GIFT  OF 
Class    of   1887 


JUDAISM 

AND  ITS  TRADITIONS 


CONVERSION  of 
A    HEBREW    RABBI 


EX-RABBI  JOSEPH  GOLDMAN 


EX-RABBI  JOSEPH   GOLDMAN 


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JUDAISM 

AND   ITS  TRADITIONS 


Conversion  of 
a   Hebrew    Rabbi 

B? 
Ex-Rabbi  Joseph  Goldman 

(Copyright  applied  for) 


Pnce  50  Cents 

I 

Published  ttf 
J.    F.    ROWNY   PRESS 

Los  Angeles 
1919 

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A 

1 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword 

My  Life  Till  Twenty-eight  Years  of  Age 5 

Judaism  Under  Christianity 7 

My   First   Congregation   and   My   First   Public 

Lecture 10 

The  Duties  of  a  Rabbi  Under  the  Eabbinical  Law  12 

Sabbath  (Saturday) 14 

The  Hebrew's  Prayer 16 

The  Hebrew  New  Year  and  Atonement  Day 19 

Easter,  Whitsen  and  Tent  (Sukes)  Day 22 

The  Hebrews'  Funerals,  Weddings  and  Circum- 
cision   , 28 

The    Hebrew    Charity   Institution    and    Philan- 
thropists   36 

Tradition 38 

The  Hebrew  School ...  42 

The  Chasidrm-  .,, _ , 47 

The  Hebrew  fitttoher*  \\ .:.;/'. ;.  W. 50 

The  Synag-ogue.  ,;  y..::  <  *. .;.;. .  • .  />  / 1  \ 54 

The  Hope  of 'Isfa^f::  /.v.-.  ?  /::- .\: 56 

The  Jewish  Missionary  Work  Among  the  Jews . .  58 

My  Conversion  and  Persecution 62 


FOREWORD 

People  have  asked  me  many  titnsc  to  tell  them  -of 
my  conversion  and  the  history  of  Judaism ;  and  I  have 
had  so  many  applications  for  this,  that  I  could  not 
refuse  any  longer  to  write  it. 

This  is  my  first  testimony  in  the  five  years  that  I 
have  been  in  America.  I  do  not  mean  in  sending  this 
testimony  of  my  conversion  into  the  world  to  convert, 
or  to  be  honored  by  it.  God  forbid!  I  am  sending 
this  to  the  world  because  the  world  needs  it. 

Christianity  stands  upon  testimony,  evidence;  for 
Christ  Jesus  was  a  testimony,  an  evidence  to  the 
world,  sent  by  His  Father  to  the  people.  Paul  was 
an  evidence  for  Jesus  when,  on  the  way  to  Damascus, 
Christ  spoke  to  him  and  sent  him  to  become  the  first 
missionary  for  Christ.  Every  prophet  was  sent  by 
God  as  an  evidence  and  testimony  to  the  people  and 
kings.  They  passed  through  persecutions ;  they  could 
not  help  it.  It  was  God  who  sent  them  to  go  through 
all  this  trouble. 

God  has  never  changed  His  way  and  order.  His 
program  must  continue  till  the  world  will  know  all. 
The  same  God  sent  me  in  1913,  on  the  16th  day  of 
December,  from  my  Orthodox  Hebrew  Synagogue  to 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ.  It  was  not  I  who  went ; 
it  was  He  (Christ)  who  sent  me  to  do  the  will  of  His 
Father. 

Can  you  imagine  a  man,  a  Rabbi  over  the  Syna- 
gogue, Beit  Jacove  (The  House  of  Jacob),  a  four- 
thousand-member  congregation  of  Jews,  a  large  in- 
come monthly,  a  law-writer  and  law-giver  to  the  Or- 

3 

845750 


4  JUDAISM 

tbcdox  Jewish  community,  a  Father,  a  Brother,  a 
King  over  his  congregation,  honored  by  all,  from  the 
younges.t  to  the  oldest5  crowned  by  all,  Rabbi,  with 
the  -greatest  title  of  the  Hebrew  nation,  respected  by 
Jew  and  Gentile,  who  would  change  his  belief  and 
religion  and  follow  Jesus  Christ  and  become  a  curse 
to  his  nation,  persecuted  and  condemned  by  his  wife 
and  children,  driven  out  from  his  home,  and  compelled 
to  lose  all? 

Was  it  I  who  did  it  ?  No !  Could  I  help  it  and  not 
follow  Christ?  Have  I  or  any  other  man  the  power 
to  say  "No,"  to  say,  "I  won't  follow  Him"?  Can 
any  Jew  or  Gentile  condemn  me  for  doing  the  will  of 
the  unseeable  God  (Christ)?  Could  Paul  say,  "I 
won't  do  it"?  "What  shall  I  do,  Lord?"  says  Paul, 
without  any  hesitation,  when  Jesus  spoke  to  Him  on 
the  way  to  Damascus.  It  is  the  same  Christ,  the  same 
God  over  all  now,  as  in  the  day  of  Paul. 

The  conversion  of  a  Hebrew  Rabbi  will  open  the 
eyes  and  mind  of  many  people,  and  I  will  give  myself 
over  to  my  Maker,  Lord  and  Master,  to  judge  me 
according  to  my  testimony. 

JOSEPH  GOLDMAN. 


My  Life  Till  28  Years  of  Age 

I  was  born  in  Kishenof,  state  of  Baserabia,  Eussia, 
in  the  year  1865.  In  my  sixth  year  I  was  engaged 
to  be  married  to  a  young  lady  aged  four.  My  father 
made  up  the  contract  with  the  girl's  father,  that  on 
my  eighteenth  birthday  I  should  be  married  to  his 
daughter,  according  to  the  law,  and  my  father-in-law 
must  give  me  the  education  and  pay  for  my  schooling 
in  the  Hebrew  University.  I  was  sent  to  the  Hebrew 
University  in  Valosnia  until  my  eighth  year  and  stu- 
died the  Talmud  until  my  eighteenth  year,  when  I 
was  called  home  by  my  parents  and  was  married  to 
my  engaged  young  girl.  I  was  sent  back  to  school 
seven  days  after  my  marriage  day  and  studied  till  I 
was  twenty-eight  years  of  age  and  went  through  the 
examination  for  a  Eabbi. 

It  is  very  hard  to  tell  all  a  Jewish  scholar  has  to 
go  through  to  study  for  a  Rabbi,  especially  in  Eussia. 
There  is  no  pleasure,  or  joy,  or  fun,  or  play,  or  recre- 
ation. "We  have  no  billiard  rooms  or  pool  halls  or 
auto  rides,  no  theatres,  picture  shows,  or  dance  halls. 
We  have  no  girls  to  walk  around  with  till  1 :00  o'clock 
in  the  morning,  no  love  affairs,  nor  any  time  wasted. 
We  have  only  one  duty,  and  that  is  study,  study  and 
study,  and  this  is  Talmud,  Misne,  Ezra,  Schulcton, 
Oroch,  Prophecy,  law,  traditions  and  commandments. 

The  Hebrew  literature  is  the  largest  the  world  has. 
The  Talmud  is  a  study  of  the  Babylonic  law  and 
Jerusalem  law  and  ideals  from  the  Eabbinical  mind. 
To  know  Talmud  one  must  be  taught  from  child- 
hood, his  mind  developed  and  trained  until  he  be- 

5 


6  JUDAISM 

come  an  habitual  Talmudist.  There  are  many  boys 
and  men,  great  Talmud  scholars,  who  could  not  un- 
derstand the  Old  Testament  or  its  prophecy.  It  is 
because  they  begin  the  Talmud  before  the  Bible.  Many 
of  the  scholars  are  beginning  the  Bible  in  the  Uni- 
versity when  they  are  18  or  19  years  old.  So  the 
Hebrew  student  has  all  his  time  occupied  and  has  to 
work  sometimes  24  hours  through  the  day  before  he 
gets  a  good  sleep  or  a  full  meal. 

The  most  of  the  scholars  are  from  poor  parents  and 
have  to  be  kept  by  the  community.  Someone  gives 
them  a  place  to  sleep,  someone  gives  them  one  day 
in  a  week  to  eat,  and  the  teacher  goes  around  in  town 
to  get  for  the  new  student  seven  days  in  different 
homes  where  he  may  go  to  have  his  meals.  There  are 
many  times  when  they  have  nowhere  to  sleep  and 
have  to  lie  down  in  the  school  on  the  floor  with  their 
coats  as  pillows  and  overcoats  as  blankets,  and  at  3 
or  4  o'clock  in  the  morning  they  have  to  be  up,  be- 
cause the  people  then  begin  to  come  for  morning 
prayer.  Every  Synagogue  has  a  spare  box  where 
money  is  collected  to  keep  up  the  Hebrew  University ; 
but  this  money  does  not  cover  all  the  expenses  and 
the  scholars  have  to  suffer. 

Fortunately,  I  had  all  the  conveniences.  My  father- 
in-law  was  well-to-do  and  he  sent  me  money  to  live 
comfortably.  My  teachers  labored  more  with  me  than 
with  the  others,  because  I  was  a  rich  man's  son  and 
my  father-in-law  sent  them  money  regularly  every 
month,  and  they  tried  hard  to  get  me  through  the 
examinations. 

On  my  28th  birthday  I  became  a  Rabbi  with  a 
diploma  authorizing  me  to  occupy  the  Rabbinical 
chair. 


Judaism  Under  Christianity 

The  Jewish  nation  is  not  prejudiced  against  Chris- 
tianity ;  in  fact,  the  Jewish  people  like  to  see  Gentiles 
Christianized,  for  self-protection.  A  Christian  does 
not  condemn  or  hate  a  Jew.  The  Gentiles  do.  The 
so-called  Christians  are  the  ones  who  condemn  the 
Jew.  The  early  Catholic  Church  has  brought  shame 
upon  Christianity.  Judaism  has  suffered  more  under 
Christianity  than  it  ever  did  before  Christ;  has  suf- 
fered more  than  under  Babylon,  Rome,  or  Egypt.  The 
Jew  will  never  forget  Austria  and  Germany  in  the 
years  of  the  fifteenth,  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies. The  Spanish  Inquisition,  under  Torquemada 
and  the  driving  out  of  the  Jews  from  Portugal  are 
still  with  blood  engraved  in  the  heart  of  the  Jew. 
The  Germans  and  Austrians  have  burned  thousands 
of  families  on  Sata  De  Fe.  These  nations  have  been 
conducted  under  the  so-called  Christian  Church.  The 
history  will  tell  you  all.  Even  England  had  a  Jew- 
ish Ghetto,  where  every  Jew  had  to  wear  a  yellow 
rag  on  his  coat  as  a  symbol  that  he  was  a  Jew. 

It  is  not  very  long  since  the  Jew  became  an  honor- 
able citizen,  when  America  had  opened  the  doors  for 
all  men,  and  the  Jew  was  the  first  to  look  here  for  a 
land  of  freedom,  and  made  himself  useful  to  this  land 
in  politics  and  commercialism. 

How  can  I  forget  Kishenof?  Oh,  Protestants!  In 
the  years  1902  and  1903,  when  Judaism  was  trodden 
to  death,  thousands  in  a  day,  men,  women  and  chil- 
dren, crucified  and  torn  in  half  under  the  crucifix 
and  the  New  Testament !  The  Greek  Catholic  Church, 

7 


8  JUDAISM 

with  the  Czar  as  the  head  of  the  church,  has  killed 
so  many  innocent  little  ones!  "And  God  said,  I  will 
curse  them  that  curseth  thee"  (Genesis  12 :3) .  Where 
is  the  Czar  today  ?  Where  is  the  Russian  government 
today  f  Where  is  the  whole  Romanoff  family  ?  They 
are  blotted  from  this  earth.  The  Greek  Church  is 
falling  with  the  Romanoff  family.  The  Hapsburgs 
(Austria),  the  Hohenzollerns  (Germany)  and  the  Ro- 
man Empire,  all  are  coming  to  an  end.  But  Judaism 
will  live  to  see  the  freedom  of  Christ,  in  love,  in  for- 
giveness, in  joy,  in  humanity  and  in  brotherly  love  to 
all  mankind. 

We  are  asking  one  another,  Why  doesn't  the  Jew 
believe  in  Christ?  It  is  written  in  the  prophets,  in 
the  Psalms,  in  the  five  books  of  Moses.  Why,  then, 
does  he  not  believe  ? 

And  I  say  to  you  all,  as  a  Hebrew  and  also  a  fol- 
lower of  Christ,  the  Son  of  God,  Judaism  will  never 
receive  Christ  and  Christianity  till  condemnations  and 
persecutions  shall  be  blotted  out  in  the  so-called  Chris- 
tianity. 

Jesus  forgave  the  Jews.  The  Christians  do  not 
forgive.  There  remains  still  in  the  memory  of  the 
so-called  Christians  the  words  ' c  Crucify  Him !  Crucify 
Him!''  and  they  forget  that  through  His  crucifixion 
we  were  saved.  Instead  of  loving  the  Jewish  people, 
they  condemn  them. 

Every  Christian  loves  a  Jew,  and,  if  he  does  not 
love  a  Jew,  he  is  not  a  Christian.  The  Jew  loves  to 
see  a  Gentile  Christianized  and  loves  a  good  Christian. 
He  feels  that  the  Christian  loves  him. 

But  the  Jew  will  hate  a  Jew  who  becomes  a  Chris- 
tian. The  Jews  do  not  believe  that  it  is  possible  for  a 
Jew  to  be  converted  after  so  many  years'  suffering 


JUDAISM  9 

under  Christianity.  It  must  be  explained  to  him  that 
Christ  is  love,  not  hate;  Christ  is  life,  not  death; 
Christ  did  not  come  to  destroy,  but  to  create,  and  all 
the  good  there  was  in  Jesus,  that  good  must  be  pro- 
nounced to  every  man  that  every  man  may  live  Christ. 


My  First  Congregation  and  My  First 
Public  Lectures  in  the  Synagogue 

The  town  was  all  in  the  greatest  excitement  on  a 
Wednesday.  Mr.  Glixstein's  son-in-law  is  coming 
home  as  a  Rabbi  and  will  take  our  old  Rabbi's  place. 
Old  Rabbi  Samuel  was  82  years  old  and  was  56  years 
on  the  job.  He  was  all  the  city  had.  All  he  had  he 
gave  to  the  poor.  The  people  called  him  Angel  Ga- 
briel. He  always  had  a  smile  on  his  glorious  face; 
all  soul,  all  heart,  all  spirit,  all  man.  Every  broken 
heart  he  healed  and  mended  with  a  smile  and  cheer- 
ful hope.  He  was  loved  and  respected  by  every  Rus- 
sian and  by  every  Jew  honored.  "When  he  walked 
through  the  street  on  his  way  home  from  the  Syna- 
gogue, hundreds  of  little  children  were  all  around 
him  and  he  in  the  middle.  With  his  long  silk  robe  and 
white  beard,  his  usual  smile  on  his  face  and  his  top 
hat  on  his  head,  he  looked  like  a  prophet.  Men  and 
women  came  out  of  the  doorway  and  looked  upon 
him  with  pride,  he  bowing  his  head  to  everybody  with 
a  blessing  on  his  lips. 

The  children  used  to  sing  all  together:  "There  goes 
the  Rabbi!  There  goes  the  Rabbi!  God  bless  the 
Rabbi !  God  bless  the  Rabbi !  Long  live  the  Rabbi ! 
Long  live  the  Rabbi !"  "This  is  my  breakfast, "  he 
used  to  say  to1  everybody  he  met,  meaning  the  chil- 
dren. "God  of  Israel  blessed  me  with  many  angels 
(children).  God  of  Israel,  how  I  bless  Thee!"  he 
used  to  murmur  till  he  came  to  his  home. 

He  came  to  meet  me  on  my  entering  the  town.  He 
10 


JUDAISM  11 

took  me  in  his  arms  and  kissed  me  and  pressed  me 
to  his  bosom,  wept  and  said:  "Son,  take  my  place, 
and  do  the  will  of  Jehovah. "  He  could  not  say  any 
more,  as  his  tears  were  choking  him.  He  got  in  his 
buggy  and  we  all  went  to  my  father-in-law's  house. 
It  was  on  a  Friday.  Every  family  was  busy  pre- 
paring the  Sabbath  meals,  in  order  to  attend  the 
evening  service  when  I  (the  Rabbi)  would  give  my 
first  lecture  to  the  congregation.  The  Synagogue  was 
packed  with  Gentiles  and  Jews.  My  father  and  my 
father-in-law,  with  pride  in  their  faces,  brought  me 
into  the  Synagogue  and  took  me  up  to  Rabbi  Samuel's 
place.  I  could  feel  the  eyes  of  the  people  fixed  on  me. 
I  could  feel  a  load  on  my  shoulders,  and  fear  came 
on  me,  and  a  prayer  came  out  from  my  soul,  "God 
of  Israel,  help  me,  give  me  knowledge  and  wisdom  in 
my  first  lecture  to  my  new  congregation  as  a  new  and 
young  leader  for  my  people." 

,The  time  came  when  I  was  called  upon  in  the  pulpit 
to  speak.  Like  a  young  lion  I  ran  up  in  my  holy 
robe,  opened  a  Bible  and  quoted  scripture  and  lec- 
tured from  the  Talmud,  Bible,  Misne,  and  many  other 
Rabbinical  books,  close  to  two  hours.  When  I  fin- 
ished, Rabbi  Samuel  came  up  first  and  kissed  me  (this 
was  his  habit,  kissing),  and  everybody  shook  hands 
and  congratulated  me.  My  father  took  me  by  my 
hand,  and  with  tears  said :  ' '  Son !  This  is  all  I  can 
say.  Can  you  understand?"  I  said,  "Yes,  father,  I 
do!"  and  we  fell  on  each  other's  shoulders. 


The  Duties  of  a  Rabbi  Under  the 
Rabbinical  Law 

The  Christians  are  mistaken  in  believing  that  the 
Jew  and  the  Hebrew  are  one.  A  man  may  be  a  Jew 
and  not  a  Hebrew.  He  (the  Jew)  may  read  the 
Hebrew  but  not  understand  it.  A  Hebrew  Rabbi 
may  not  be  a  reformer,  or  a  Jewish  Eabbi,  of  whom 
we  have  so  many  in  the  United  States.  The  Jews  are 
divided  into  four  sects:  Chasidim,  Misnagdim,  Pe- 
rushim,  and  Ashkanasim.  The  holiest  of  all  these 
four  is  the  Chasidim,  and  a  number  of  the  Perushim. 
The  Chasidim  are  great  traditionalists  and  follow  the 
Mosaic  law,  the  Rabbinical  law  and  its  613  traditions. 
The  Misnagdim  are  the  reform  Jews  and  belong  to 
one  nation.  They  are  not  against  Judaism,  but  much 
against  tradition.  They  have  no  Synagogue,  but  have 
a  Temple.  The  Temple  is  more  like  a  Protestant 
church,  with  an  organ  and  a  girls'  choir,  while  the 
Hebrew  Synagogue  has  no  music,  as  it  is  strictly  for- 
bidden by  the  Rabbinical  law. 

It  will  take  a  reform  Rabbi  six  years,  in  an  Ameri- 
can University  in  Cincinnati,  to  become  a  Rabbi,  or 
a  Doctor,  but  a  Hebrew  Rabbi  in  Russia  will  spend 
twenty  years  to  become  a  Rabbi  over  a  congregation. 
The  Reformer  knows  very  little  of  the  Talmudical 
law  or  Dinnim,  because  he  doesn't  need  it.  A  Hebrew 
Rabbi  must  know  every  tradition  or  law  that  is  writ- 
ten in  the  Hebrew  of  Chaldean  literature. 

The  majority  of  the  American  Jews  are  doing  busi- 
ness on  Saturday.  At  the  same  time  it  is  written, 
12 


JUDAISM  13 

"Thou  shalt  keep  the  Sabbath  Day  holy,"  and  the 
Russian  Hebrew  will  give  his  life  first  before  he  will 
break  this  law  of  the  Sabbath. 

A  Hebrew  Rabbi  doesn't  visit  his  congregation. 
The  congregation  comes  to  the  Rabbi.  Whenever 
there  is  trouble  between  two  Jews,  the  Rabbi  has  to 
make  it  right  and  try  to  satisfy  both  parties.  All 
the  Synagogue's  affairs  go  through  the  Rabbi's  hands, 
and  the  little  time  he  has  left  he  studies  more  law  from 
his  great  library  at  home. 

SABBATH  (SATURDAY) 

The  majority  of  the  Hebrews  in  Poland,  or  Russia, 
are  making  their  living  from  the  peasant  in  the  coun- 
try. Many  are  selling  needles,  cotton,  combs  and 
brushes  and  dresses  for  children. 

Sunday  morning  he  is  ready  to  go  out  with  a  large 
pack  on  his  back  and  a  cane  in  his  hand,  to  lean  upon 
when  tired,  and  begin  his  long  journey  of  thirty,  forty 
or  fifty  miles.  His  family  is  left  to  eat  on  credit  till 
he  returns  on  Friday. 

All  his  work  and  worry  is  for  the  Sabbath,  that  he 
may  have  on  the  holy  day  plenty  to  eat  with  his  family. 
All  the  week  his  family  lived  on  black  bread,  salted 
herring  and  skimmed  milk.  On  Thursday  the  wife 
will  get  white  flour  and  many  other  things  from  the 
store,  having  it  ready  for  Friday  to  bake  and  to  cook 
when  he  comes  home. 

Friday  before  noon  many  of  them  come  into  town 
with  a  heavy  load  on  their  backs.  The  Hebrew  has 
sold  his  needles,  his  combs  and  dresses.  He  brings 
home,  in  exchange,  eggs,  butter,  rags,  bones,  copper, 
and  hair.  It  is  not  possible  to  believe  that  one  can 
carry  such  a  load  of  hundreds  of  pounds  for  thirty 


14  JUDAISM 

miles  or  more.  But  he  can  do  it.  The  desire  to  live 
and  to  provide  for  his  family  give  him  the  strength 
to  do  it.  The  wife  helps  him  to  take  off  his  load  from 
his  shoulders.  She  sorts  out  everything  and  gives  it 
to  the  storekeeper,  and  pays  her  debts  and  gets  a  ruble 
(fifty  cents)  for  beef  and  fish  and  wine,  and  something 
for  a  smoke  for  him,  and  to  get  a  Russian  Turkish 
bath,  and  the  storekeeper  holds  two  rubles  for  a  new 
stock  for  next  week. 

Friday  evening  the  room  is  clean,  the  table  covered 
with  a  white  tablecloth,  four  candlesticks  and  candles 
burning.  The  room  is  warm,  the  children  clean  and 
washed,  plenty  of  food  cooked  for  tonight  and  to- 
morrow. The  family  of  six  or  seven  are  waiting  for 
Father  to  come  home  from  the  Synagogue. 

Till  then,  Mother  tells  the  children  stories.  How 
glad  we  ought  to  be  that  God  has  given  us  a  Sab- 
bath, that  all  the  trouble  and  sorrow  from  the  week 
are  forgotten,  and  we  must  be  happy  today.  God 
wants  us  to  rejoice  this  day.  Mother  tells  the  children 
that  God  has  punished  Israel  to  live  amongst  the  Chris- 
tians ;  how  the  Christians  kill  the  Jews,  but  God  will 
punish  the  Christians  (meaning  the  Russians)  and 
will  bring  us  home  to  Jerusalem  soon. 

Father  comes  in  looking  like  a  prophet,  his  long 
beard  combed  clean,  wearing  his  silk  robe  and  slippers, 
a  smile  on  his  face.  He  takes  the  baby  on  his  arm 
and  the  other  children  holding  his  robe.  He  walks 
up  and  down  the  room  many  times  over.  He  is  no 
more  the  same  man  of  this  morning  with  a  heavy 
load  on  his  back,  bent  with  the  burden.  No  more  the 
suffering  Jew,  no  more  the  slave.  He  is  king  today. 
It  is  Sabbath.  He  is  praising  God  and  God  wants 
him  to  praise.  "The  Lord  is  my  shepherd,  I  shall 


JUDAISM  15 

not  want."  He  washes  his  hands,  and  the  boys  are 
following  Father,  doing  the  same  thing.  He  sits 
down  by  the  table  and  praises  God  with  a  sweet  mel- 
ody, all  the  children  singing:  "We  thank  the  Father 
Jehovah  for  giving  us  the  Sabbath,  one  day  in  the 
week  to  praise  the  holy  name. ' ' 

After  supper  the  children  go  joyfully  to  sleep,  and 
Father  is  left  by  the  table  to  read  the  Bible  and  the 
Sabbath  law,  a  duty  which  every  Hebrew  must  per- 
form. 

When  the  day  breaks,  everybody  gets  up  happy  and 
joyfully.  Mother  gets  the  tea  ready,  which  is  kept 
in  the  hot  stove  during  the  night.  After  tea  every- 
body goes  to  the  Synagogue.  Mother,  with  the  girls, 
and  Father  with  the  boys. 

The  women  are  not  sitting  with  the  men  in  the  Syn- 
agogue. The  women  have  a  gallery  with  a  curtain 
before  them,  that  no  man  may  see  them.  She  can  see 
and  hear  the  prayer  and  singing  from  the  Rabbi,  and 
can  see  the  man,  but  the  man  cannot  see  the  woman. 
After  the  ceremony  the  husbands  meet  their  families 
and  each  one  takes  his  own  family  home  for  dinner. 

The  Sabbath  day  is  very  holy  to  the  Hebrew.  He 
must  not  carry  anything  in  his  pockets.  He  must 
not  smoke.  He  must  not  talk  week-days '  talk  or  walk 
out  of  town.  He  must  pray  and  bless  God  all  day. 
He  must  forget  his  trouble  and  sorrow.  This  day  is 
holy  to  the  Lord  God.  Father  takes  a  nap  after  din- 
ner for  two  hours,  and  goes  to  the  Synagogue  again 
at  four  o'clock  to  hear  the  Rabbi  lecture.  Every  Sat- 
urday afternoon  the  Rabbi  lectures  for  his  congrega- 
tion till  sundown,  when  he  is  ready  to  give  the  second 
prayer  and  ready  to  eat  the  third  meal. 

Every  Hebrew  must  eat  three  meals  on  Saturday, 


16  JUDAISM 

the  first  one  Friday  night,  the  second  Saturday  noon, 
the  third  Saturday  before  sunset.  The  last  meal! 
What  a  change  it  is  from  the  first  meal  on  Friday 
night  to  the  last  meal  on  Saturday  morning!  No 
more  singing,  no  more  joyful  talks,  no  more  food  as 
much  or  as  good  as  last  night  or  this  morning.  Every- 
thing is  cold,  the  food,  the  home,  the  hearth,  and  the 
spirit.  Everybody  is  so  sad  and  lonesome.  Every- 
one feels  something  different,  that  something  will  hap- 
pen. Every  eye  is  fixed  upon  Father.  Father's  face 
doesn't  look  the  same  as  this  morning.  He  is  thinking 
of  tomorrow.  Tomorrow !  When  the  heavy  load  will 
bend  his  back  for  another  forty  miles  to  bring  home 
something  to  eat  for  the  little  ones;  and,  maybe,  he 
will  never  come  home  again  and  will  never  see  them 
again.  "God  of  Israel,  bring  me  home  safely  again, 
to  keep  thy  commandments, ' '  he  prays.  The  wife  and 
the  children  are  sitting  in  silence  and  everybody,  even 
the  youngest,  feels  the  sorrow  that  is  to  come  for  the 
coming  week. 

Monday  morning  the  army  of  men  with  their  packs 
on  their  backs  are  marching  through  the  street  on 
the  way  to  the  country  in  different  directions.  God 
of  Israel,  help  us! 

THE  HEBREW'S  PRAYER 

I  have  never  believed,  as  I  grew  up,  that  people 
might  be  free  to  do  all  they  wanted.  I  believed,  first, 
that  God  does  not  permit  freedom;  and  second,  that 
the  Government  of  Russia  would  not  allow  it,  and 
that  especially  the  Jews  had  to  suffer  for  the  sins  of 
their  fathers. 

When  I  was  thirteen  years  of  age  I  began  to  follow 
the  613  traditions  and  tried  not  to  miss  one  if  pos- 
sible. For  instance,  the  first  tradition.  As  soon  as  I 


JUDAISM  17 

opened  my  eyes  in  the  morning,  I  tried  not  to  put  my 
feet  on  the  floor  till  my  eyes  were  washed  and  my 
fingernails  were  washed  clean.  The  fingernails  must 
be  washed,  because  Satan  was  resting  through  the 
night  under  my  fingernails ;  and  the  most  of  the  holy 
Hebrews  kept  by  their  bedside  a  jar  of  water  with  a 
handle  (it  must  have  a  handle),  and,  when  awake,  he 
must  pour  three  times  over  each  hand  and  pray.  Next 
come  the  eyes  and  face  and  another  prayer.  Next 
comes  the  cleaning  of  the  inside  body.  He  will  walk 
arouund  the  room  for  so  long,  until  he  is  ready  for 
cleaning. 

Then  comes  the  morning  prayer,  which  must  be 
prayed  before  nine  o'clock.  After  nine  o'clock  the 
morning  prayer  could  not  be  performed.  It  must  be 
prayed  in  the  presence  of  ten  men  at  home  or  in  the 
Synagogue.  Everybody  goes  to  the  Synagogue.  If 
there  were  nine  men  and  a  boy  under  thirteen  years, 
the  prayer  could  not  be  performed.  When  there  are 
nine  men  and  a  boy  of  thirteen  or  over,  the  prayer 
goes  on.  If  there  are  nine  men  and  a  woman  or  ten 
women,  or  more,  it  could  not  be  prayed,  because  a 
woman  counts  not.  The  woman  has  her  own  law  to 
perform,  with  which  the  man  has  nothing  to  do.  The 
women  need  not  pray  even  in  the  morning,  after  or 
evening. 

After  the  morning  prayer,  he  goes  home  for  break- 
fast. His  hands  must  be  washed  again,  using  a  cup 
vrith  a  handle  on  it,  and  also  three  times  pouring  water 
on  each  hand.  Then  more  prayer,  and  blessings  to 
God.  The  Hebrew  will  bless  God  after  his  meal  and 
will  thank  God  for  feeding  him,  after  the  meal.  Be- 
fore, he  will  bless  God  for  preparing  him  the  food. 

Three  prayers  through  the  day  must  be  performed 


18  JUDAISM 

and,  God  forbid,  it  must  not  be  neglected ;  in  the  morn- 
ing before  nine  o'clock,  in  the  afternoon,  any  time 
before  sunset,  and  in  the  evening  when  stars  can  be 
seen  in  the  skies.  Many  times  a  Hebrew  is  busy  all 
day  on  the  road  or  in  the  street,  and  people  are  not 
surprised  to  see  him  standing  on  the  sidewalk  with 
his  face  to  the  east  and  praying,  because  before  he 
may  reach  home  or  the  Synagogue  the  sun  may  go 
down  and  he  may  lose  a  prayer.  The  third  prayer 
may  be  prayed  any  time  after  dark.  Before  going 
to  bed  he  prays  and  gives  his  soul  to  God  to  take  care 
of  till  he  awakes.  After  giving  his  soul  to  God,  he 
must  not  speak  to  anyone,  but  close  his  eyes  and  wait 
till  sleep  comes. 


The  Hebrew  New  Year  and 
Atonement  Day 

Not  many  Christians  have  witnessed  a  Hebrew  New 
Year  or  Atonement  (Fast  Day)  in  the  Hebrew  ortho- 
dox life.  It  is  very  secret  and  holy.  The  year  begins 
in  October  (Ellel)  and  lasts  two  days.  It  is  permitted 
to  cook  the  food  but  not  to  do  anything  else  but  pray. 
The  morning  prayer  lasts  till  one  o'clock  and  at  2:30 
everybody  must  be  in  the  Synagogue  again  for  pray- 
ing and  reading  the  holy  words  written  by  the  great 
Rabbis  of  old.  The  afternoon  and  evening  prayer 
are  a  continuance  with  a  fifteen-minute  interval.  At 
eight  o'clock  in  the  evening  everybody  is  going  home 
for  the  second  meal. 

On  these  two  days  the  prayer  is  for  a  good  new 
year  for  himself  and  all  the  Jews.  In  fact,  the  Jew 
always  prays  for  the  nation  of  Israel,  for  every  Jew 
all  over  the  world,  wherever  he  may  be,  asking  God 
to  forgive  him  his  sins.  At  half-past  three  p.  m.,  the 
Jewish  people,  from  every  Synagogue,  march  to  the 
water  front  with  their  prayer  books,  and  many  groups 
are  there,  all  praying  to  God,  that  the  sins  they  have 
done  through  this  year  may  fall  into  the  water  and 
stay  there.  After  this  prayer  they  lift  up  the  two 
corners  of  the  robe  and  shake  off  the  sins  from  the 
body  into  the  water,  and  everybody  goes  home  more 
relieved  and  satisfied,  and  all  go  back  to  the  Syna- 
gogue. 

This  is  tradition  and  has  been  kept  up  for  over  two 
thousand  years.  Hebrewism  has  never  changed.  But 

19 


20  JUDAISM 

this  does  not  include  the  Jews  of  America.  These 
Jews  in  America  are  not  Jews  and  not  Christians. 
They  are  more  Americans  than  anything  else — Amer- 
ican with  a  Jewish  face.  That  is  all  that  is  left  of  the 
old  Judaism — the  face. 

The  morning  after  the  two  days  of  performance  is 
Gedalje.  Gedalje  was  a  great  Hebrew  and  made  many 
traditions,  and  was  tortured  to  death,  and  was 
brought  on  stretchers  into  the  Synagogue  on  New 
Year's  Day,  and  with  his  mangled  body  he  gave  out 
a  great  prayer  to  Jehovah  and  every  Jew  who  prays 
this  wonderful  prayer  weeps  and  mourns : 

"This  New  Year's,  Father,  thou  hast  written, 
And  Atonement  day  thou  hast  sealed ; 
Some  one  shall  be  lost  and  many  shall  be  born ; 
Some  shall  live  and  some  shall  die ; 
Some  shall  have  a  short  end  and  some  shall  live  long ; 
Some  shall  die  on  water  and  some  shall  die  by  fire ; 
Some  shall  die  by  knife  and  some  shall  die  by  the 
rope." 

And  all  the  Jews  are  weeping  because  millions  of 
them  have  known  torturing  in  many  countries  and 
in  Eussia.  This  Gedalji  day  is  a  fasting  day  and 
begins  the  morning  after  New  Year's. 

Ten  days  after  New  Year's  comes  Atonement  day. 
This  day  is  the  greatest  day  and  the  holiest  day  in 
the  year,  even  holier  than  Sabbath.  No  person  must 
wear  shoes  on  their  feet.  Nobody  over  thirteen  years 
old  must  eat  or  drink  for  twenty-four  hours.  The 
body  must  be  punished  because  it  has  sinned  and  the 
soul  must  be  washed  in  prayer  to  be  clean. 

If  any  Christians  could  come  on  that  day  into  a 
Hebrew  Synagogue  in  Poland  and  see  the  tears  on 


JUDAISM  21 

the  cheeks  of  the  suffering  Israel,  hear  the  broken- 
hearted cry,  see  the  hundreds  of  burning  candles,  and 
every  candle  stands  for  a  lost  soul,  not  by  natural 
death  but  by  the  hand  of  a  murderer  from  the  Greek 
Catholic  Church,  you  would  all  weep  and  cry  to- 
gether with  the  broken-hearted  Israel. 

Many  have  lost  their  husbands,  going  out  with  a 
heavy  load  on  his  back  for  Saturday  in  the  country 
for  a  living.  You  will  find  hundreds  of  little  can- 
dles burning  which  stand  for  children,  and  mothers 
are  fainting  and  praying  for  these,  little  lost  souls. 

Oh,  Christians!  help  me  to  cry,  help  me  to  mourn 
for  the  suffering  Israel.  I  have  no  more  tears  in  my 
own  eyes  to  shed.  I  myself  have  left  all  the  tears  I 
aad  on  the  three  hundred  little  graves  I  have  buried 
in  one  day.  I  have  left  my  tears  on  the  grave  of  my 
own  six  children,  murdered  by  Cossacks  in  the  Kish- 
enof  Pogram.  I  have  no  more.  All  is  dry  in  me 
except  one  drop  of  blood  which  keeps  me  alive,  and 
this  is  Christ. 

Atonement  day,  fasting  and  praying  day  for  nine- 
teen hundred  years,  every  year  the  same,  and  the 
same  desire :  Jehovah,  bring  us  home  again  to  Jeru- 
salem, and  we  will  sin  no  more.  But  Israel's  prayer 
has  been  answered,  and  he  is  going  hjme  once  more 
to  his  Mother  Zion,  and  no  one  shall  trouble  him  any 
more.  Many  are  praying  all  night,  and  many  are 
going  home  to  lay  down  for  two  or  three  hours'  sleep, 
and  to  take  care  of  the  little  ones  at  home. 

Early  in  the  morning  everybody  is  in  the  Syna- 
gogue, young  and  old.  Everybody  is  praying.  Many 
of  the  Jews  are  punishing  themselves  by  staying  on 
their  feet  for  twenty-four  hours  with  peas  in  their 


22  JUDAISM 

stockings,  and  standing  through  the  day  till  night 
comes. 

Every  Hebrew  wears  a  Kittel  (a  long  white  robe), 
a  symbol  of  death  and  purity,  because,  if  a  Hebrew 
dies,  he  is  buried  in  this  kind  of  a  robe.  It  looks  like 
a  long  night  shirt,  and  this  is  the  only  costume  he  is 
buried  in. 

The  wife  goes  home,  one  hour  before  it  is  finished/ 
to  prepare  a  meal  for  the  man  and  children  coming 
home  from  the  twenty- four  hours'  fasting  and  pray- 
ing. 

Everybody  is  so  satisfied  and  relieved  after  the  day 
of  fasting,  that  he  feels  like  a  little  child  just  born. 
No  more  sin  in  him.  God  has  answered  his  prayer,  and 
he  is  young  again,  and  eats  and  drinks,  and  is  happy. 

EASTER,  WHITSEN  AND  TENT  (SUKES)  DAY. 
THREE  MORE  HEBREW  HOLIDAYS 

The  Hebrew  has  five  holidays  in  a  year,  namely, 
New  Year  (Kosh  Hoshona),  Atonement  day  (Jorn 
Ceepur),  Easter  (Pasach),  and  "Whitsen  (Showues), 
and  Tent  day  (Sukes).  Every  holiday  has  different 
traditions  and  performances.  Every  holiday  comes 
from  the  Bible,  commanded  from  God  to  Moses. 

It  is  interesting-  to  see,  that  every  holiday  has  been 
transformed  by  the  Rabbinical  law,  and  they  are  no 
more  the  same  today  as  two  thousand  years  ago. 

For  instance,  the  Atonement  day  in  the  Temple. 
When  Judaism  was  in  full  glory  and  power,  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  Jews  came  to  Jerusalem,  every  one 
with  a  gift  and  a  present  from  all  over  Palestine  and 
Judea.  Jerusalem  was  the  center  for  joy,  love  and 
spiritual  enjoyment.  Girls  and  boys  used  to  get  mar- 
ried on  Atonement  day.  The  Levites  used  to  play  on 


JUDAISM  23 

instruments  and  sing,  dancing  and  singing  in  the  Gar- 
den of  the  Temple,  kissing,  loving  and  hugging  each 
other. 

The  priest  alone  used  to  go  into  the  holy  of  holies 
and  pray  for  six  hours,  and  the  nation  patiently  wait- 
ing for  the  priest  to  come  out  and  to  hear  God's  ver- 
dict, "Your  sins  are  forgiven."  This  was  all  the  priest 
said.  Then  dancing,  singing,  playing  and  hollering 
begin.  For  eight  days  happy  Israel  used  to  live  in 
this  joy  in  Jerusalem. 

Then  came  the  destruction  of  the  Temple  and  the 
taking  away  of  the  Jews  from  Palestine  into  the  cap- 
tivity; and  Atonement  day  became  a  fasting  and  a 
weeping  day. 

Since  the  nation  has  been  driven  out  of  Palestine, 
the  Jew  has  never  had  a  peaceful  day  or  a  joyful  day. 
The  nations  walked  over  him,  and  millions  have  been 
trampled  to  death. 

He  has  the  desire  to  return  home  again  to  see  his 
holy  land  where  he  used  to  live  in  happiness  and 
comfort.  He  longs  for  freedom,  for  mother  love,  for 
home  and  country ;  and  today  he  can  see  Zion  stretch- 
ing out  her  arms  to  Israel,  saying:  "Come,  my  wan- 
dering boy,  thy  mother  is  still  living.  I  will  take 
care  of  you.  Father  blessed  me  and  kept  me  alive 
to  see  my  boy  in  the  old  days  of  my  life.  Home !  How 
God  keeps  His  promises ! ' ' 

But !  "Will  Israel  know  how  to  rule  his  land  ?  Will 
Israelites  know  how  to  live  peacefully  amongst  them- 
selves? Will  Israel  know  how  to  live  in  friendship 
with  the  other  nations?  Will  he  remember  the  two 
thousand  years  of  trouble  and  forgive  his  oppressors  ? 
If  Israel  will  do  all  the  good  there  is  in  Israel,  surely 
God  will  help  him. 


24  JUDAISM 

Easter  is  a  great  and  noble  holiday.  Moses  took 
the  children  of  Israel  out  from  Egypt.  And  this  is 
Independence  week.  The  happiest  of  all  holidays  is 
Easter.  Six  weeks  before  the  holiday,  everybody  tries 
to  get  his  Passover  cakes  (Mazes)  ready.  Three 
months  before,  every  poor  man  in  Poland  works  very 
hard  to  make  this  holiday  a  success,  to  have  plenty 
of  everything.  He  knows  he  will  have  eight  days* 
rest  and  must  have  plenty  to  eat.  In  this  eight  days 
he  could  not  beg  nor  buy  anything.  It  must  be  all 
in  the  house.  This  is  the  day  when  the  children  are 
getting  new  clothes,  and  the  wife  a  new  skirt  and 
apron,  and  he  himself  a  new  pair  of  boots  and  hat. 
When  the  children  are  in  need  of  shoes  or  pants 
through  the  year,  the  mother  will  tell  them  to  wait 
for  Easter  and  father  will  have  plenty  of  money. 

There  is  not  a  Jew  in  the  world  who  has  no  Mazes 
on  Easter.  Every  large  city  where  there  are  many 
Jewish  communities  has  special  clubs  where  every  Jew 
who  has  no  money  to  buy  Mazes  is  provided  with  every- 
thing he  needs.  He  gets  from  the  Society  Club  eggs, 
beef,  sugar,  horseradish,  potatoes,  Mazes,  and  Maze 
flour,  and  many  other  things  the  household  needs. 
Even  in  New  York,  Chicago,  Minneapolis,  St.  Paul 
and  many  other  large  cities  in  the  United  States,  the 
poon  Jews  are  looked  after  for  this  special  holiday, 
because  the  community  is  responsible  for  them,  know- 
ing that  every  Jew  must  keep  it. 

In  Russia  there  is  a  special  committee  sent  out 
through  the  city  to  find  poor  Jews  who  haven't  the 
necessities  for  this  Holy  week,  and  every  Jew  is  pro- 
vided for. 

There  are  many  poor  Jews  who  used  to  be  well  to 
do,  once  upon  a  time,  and  they  are  ashamed  to  ask. 


JUDAISM  25 

These  Jews  are  especially  provided  for  by  the  Maze 
Club,  and  everything  is  sent  to  them  secretly. 

The  bakers  are  busy  for  six  weeks  beforehand  in 
baking  Passover  cakes,  and  a  day  before  the  holiday 
the  home  is  full  of  fish,  beef,  potatoes,  vegetables,  fruit 
and  nuts  for  eight  days.  No  leaven  bread  or  other 
bread  must  be  used,  even  new  dishes  must  be  pro- 
vided. Most  of  the  Jewish  families  are  using  the  last 
year's  Easter  dishes  they  have  stored  away  to  save 
the  expense  of  buying  new  ones. 

The  old  dishes  which  are  used  through  the  year  are 
stored  away  for  eight  days,  and  are  in  use  again  as 
soon  as  the  holiday  is  over.  A  Gentile  must  not  come, 
with  bread  in  his  hands,  into  a  Jewish  home  on  Pa- 
sach,  and  a  Jewish  child  must  not  come  in  contact 
with  a  Gentile's  child  for  fear  the  child  will  bring  in 
the  house  a  piece  of  bread  and  thus  the  house  become 
unclean.  The  Eussian  Gentiles  try  to  disturb  the 
Jewish  people  often  by  throwing  a  piece  of  bread 
through  the  window,  and  the  Jew  has  to  go  to  the 
Rabbi  for  consolation  over  this  matter. 

Passover  week  is  a  happy  holiday.  The  poor  for- 
get their  troubles  and  eight  days  are  spent  in  eating, 
sleeping  and  joyful  praying.  Every  Jewish  house- 
hold makes  its  own  wine  from  raisins  and  Mad,  from 
honey  and  hops,  and  it  is  the  popular  drink  through 
Passover  week.  The  drinks  are  bottled  up  air-tight 
and  presented  to  Gentile  friends,  as  sent  by  many  of 
the  Jewish  population. 

Six  weeks  after  the  Passover,  Whitsun  (Sawoves) 
is  coming  on.  This  is  a  holiday  when  God  has  given 
the  ten  commandments  from  Mount  Sinai,  and  also  a 
memorial  day  of  King  David.  The  first  day  of  these 


26  JUDAISM 

two  days  David  died,  and  the  first  night  is  kept  very 
holy  by  the  Jews.  All  men  are  going  to  the  Syna- 
gogue, for  the  whole  night  and  singing  David 's  Psalms 
and  burning  candles  in  the  Synagogue  as  a  memorial 
to  his  soul. 

As  soon  as  day  breaks,  the  morning  prayer  is  per- 
formed, and  eight  or  nine  o'clock  every  Jew  goes 
home  and  has  his  breakfast,  and  goes  to  bed  and 
sleeps  till  two  o'clock,  when  the  holiday  dinner  is 
ready  on  the  table.  These  two  days  are  joyful  days 
and  resting  days. 

There  are  no  more  holidays  till  July  (Ov).  The 
ninth  of  "Ov"  is  the  day  of  fasting  and  weeping,  and 
sackcloth  and  ashes  are  used.  This  is  the  day  when 
Jerusalem  has  been  destroyed  by  Titus  and  the  Jews 
have  been  taken  into  captivity.  The  day  is  like  Atone- 
ment day,  but  with  less  prayer. 

Three  days  after  Atonement  day  and  thirteen  days 
after  New  Year's  day  comes  Tent  (Sukes)  day.  This 
holiday  lasts  eight  days,  and  the  Jewish  people  must 
live  outdoors. 

The  Tent  is  built  in  the  back  yard  with  boards  of 
four  walls,  ten  to  fifteen  feet  square.  The  roof  is  cov- 
ered with  branches  of  pine  trees,  and  the  leaves  from 
other  trees.  A  long  table  is  made  in  the  middle  of 
the  Tent,  and  long  seats  from  boards  are  fixed  around 
for  seats.  The  food  is  cooked  indoors  and  the  wife 
brings  it  for  the  man  in  the  Tent.  Sometimes  there 
are  four  or  five  families  together,  and  each  family  has 
different  food,  each  one  better  than  the  other ;  and,  in 
a  case  like  this,  jealousy  arises  amongst  them,  espe- 
cially among  the  children,  for  the  reason  that  every 
woman  tries  her  best  to  make  better  food  than  the  rest 


JUDAISM  27 

of  the  women,  and  this  is  the  day  when  the  husband 
has  the  benefit  of  it. 

Much  syrup  is  used  for  this  holiday,  a  symbol  of 
having  a  sweet  year.  "Sukes"  is  eight  days  in  all. 
The  first  two  days  and  the  last  two  days  are  the  prin- 
cipal holidays.  The  four  days  between  he  may  work 
to  make  his  living,  but  must  eat  every  meal  in  the  Tent. 

This  concludes  the  five  Jewish  holidays. 


The  Hebrews'  Funerals,    Weddings 
and  Circumcision 

I  am  much  interested  to  see  the  Christian  funerals, 
and  it  reminds  me  of  thousands  of  years  ago,  when 
we  (the  Hebrews)  used  to  have  the  same  ceremonies 
as  the  Christians  are  performing  today.  This  may 
be  a  surprise  to  the  Christians,  but  in  fact  it  is  so. 

You  are  making  a  Jewish  funeral,  with  flowers  on 
the  coffin,  and  silk  in  the  coffin,  belong  to  the  Jew. 
Christianity  came  and  began  to  perform  the  funeral 
in  the  same  manner  as  the  Jew,  in  a  decorated  coffin. 
The  Rabbinical  law  made  a  change  and  forbids  the 
Tews  to  follow  the  Christians,  and,  since  then,  the 
Jews  are  making  their  own  funerals  according  to  law, 
as  follows: 

The  dead  body  must  be  taken  out  of  the  bed  fifteen 
minutes  after  giving  up  his  soul,  and,  as  soon  as  the 
body  is  cold,  he  is  placed  on  the  floor  with  his  feet 
facing  the  door.  Several  straws  must  be  placed  un- 
der the  body,  and  a  black  cloth  covers  the  whole  body. 
A  burning  candle  must  stay  by  his  head.  The  bo$v 
mvst  be  buried  in  twenty- four  hours  from  the  hour 
of  his  death. 

Every  Jewish  community  has  a  Holy  chib  for  thfe 
purpose,  composed  of  men  and  women,  who  volun- 
teer. There  are  from  twenty  to  thirty  in  the  club. 
The  men  perform  these  duties  for  a  man,  and  the 
women  for  women. 

As  soon  as  the  body  is  on  the  floor,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  club  must  watch  the  body  until  he  is  taken 
28 


JUDAISM  29 

out.  It  is  unlawful  to  leave  the  body  alone.  Then 
comes  the  women  and  the  sewing  performance  begins, 
— to  make  the  one-piece  suit  from  white  linen,  and  it 
must  be  stitched  by  hand. 

At  the  same  time  the  body  is  taken  in  another 
room  for  cleaning.  All  the  men  from  this  Holy  club 
must  be  present.  The  body  must  be  cleaned  inside 
thoroughly,  and  washed  with  warm  water  outside. 

Then  the  one-piece  suit  is  taken  in  and  is  placed  on 
him  and  tied  up  over  the  shoulders,  with  his  head  out. 
He  is  placed  in  the  coffin  and  is  taken  to  the  ceme- 
tery. 

In;  the  cemetery  the  body  is  taken  out  from  the 
coffin  and  put  into  the  grave  on  a  boarded  floor  and 
with  a  sand  pillow  under  his  head.  The  sand  in  the 
pillow  comes  from  Jerusalem,  and  every  Hebrew  pre- 
pares it  himself  when  alive,  because  by  Eabbinical 
law  he  must  lay  his  head  on  the  ground  of  Palestine 
when  he  dies,  to  be  resurrected  when  Messiah  will 
come.  Close  by  his  head  is  a  board  ,and  also  by  his 
feet,  and  two  boards  are  placed  on  the  little  side 
boards,  which  makes  a  coffin  in  the  ground,  and  then 
earth  is  thrown  on  top  of  the  boards.  All  this  cere- 
mony must  be  done  in  twenty-four  hours. 

Coming  home,  the  relatives,  sons,  daughters,  wife, 
brothers,  sisters,  must  take  off  their  shoes  and  sit  on 
the  floor  or  on  a  footstool  for  seven  days,  and  a  lamp 
must  burn  all  the  time,  and  a  glass  of  water  is  placed 
next  to  the  lamp.  The  fire  stands  for  the  soul,  and 
the  water  is  for  the  baptism  of  the  soul. 

The  relatives  must  not  eat  at  the  table  for  seven 
days,  but  may  sleep  in  bed  through  the  night.  If 
there  is  a  son  living,  he  must  pray,  specially  three 
times  a  day  for  a  whole  year,  for  the  blessing  of  his 


30  JUDAISM 

father's  soul.  If  there  is  no  son  or  brother,  a  prayer 
must  be  hired.  A  well-known  holy  Hebrew  prays  for 
his  soul,  and  gets  paid  for  the  prayer.  Every  year 
there  is  a  memorial  day  to  keep,  the  same  day  on 
which  the  person  died,  and  a  candle  or  lamp  keeps 
burning  for  twenty-four  hours. 

The  most  of  the  reform  Jews  are  keeping  memorial 
day,  and  the  reform  son  has  to  go  to  the  Synagogue 
to  say  "Kadesh,"  a  prayer  for  the  soul. 

THE  HEBREW  WEDDING 

Let  us  turn  to  happier  days.  A  wedding !  It  is  a 
happy  moment,  the  wedding  day,  for  both  parties. 
The  young  couple  are  not  together  the  day  before  the 
wedding.  Many  girls  in  Poland  have  never  seen  their 
future  husbands  until  the  day  of  the  wedding,  and 
the  young  man  never  sees  his  future  wife  until  this 
day. 

In  the  orthodox  life,  the  daughter  or  the  son  must 
not  interfere  with  the  engagement  which  the  two 
fathers  have  made  between  themselvs. 

The  boy  may  study  for  a  Eabbi.  He  is  in  the  uni- 
versity. The  boy's  father  is  looking  for  a  rich  girl 
for  his  son.  There  is  an  orthodox  rich  Jew  who  looks 
for  an  honorable  son-in-law.  He  (the  son's  father) 
comes  to  the  rich  man  and  says :  *  *  I  have  a  son,  a 
well  learned  boy,  and  a  Hebrew.  He  is  studying  for  a 
Rabbi.  What  is  your  price  to  have  him  for  your  son- 
in-law?" 

The  price  for  a  Rabbi  is  very  high.  It  may  be  as 
much  as  ten  thousand  rubles  (50  cents  a  ruble).  A 
poor  cobbler  will  not  marry  a  girl  until  he  gets  three 
hundred  rubles.  A  tailor  gets  five  hundred  rubles. 
A  good  carpenter  gets  five  hundred  to  six  hundred 
rubles.  A  Jewish  lawyer  gets  two  thousand  rubles. 


JUDAISM  31 

A  doctor  must  get  five  thousand  to  six  thousand 
rubles. 

A  Rabbi  sometimes  is  priceless.  The  rich  man  and 
the  religious  man  will  spend  his  last  ruble  to  get  a 
Rabbi.  For  two  reasons :  first,  he  is  an  educated  He- 
brew ;  second,  when  the  Messiah  comes,  the  father-in- 
law  will  sit  next  to  his  son-in-law,  the  son-in-law  will 
sit  next  to  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  and  Abraham, 
Isaac  and  Jacob  will  sit  next  to  Jehovah.  So  he  (the 
father-in-law),  will  be  amongst  the  royal  family.  For 
this  reason  every  rich  Hebrew  buys  an  everlasting 
seat  in  Heaven. 

My  father-in-law,  it  seems  to  me,  did  not  get  a 
great  bargain  in  me,  or  a  seat  in  Heaven.  He  is  dead 
now,  and  I  don't  know  where  he  sits,  because  his  son- 
in-law,  the  Rabbi,  became  a  Christian.  But  never 
mind,  his  intentions  were  good. 

It  is  a  rule,  that  every  Jewish  girl  must  have  money 
to  get  a  husband,  and  when  she  is  poor  she  has  to 
work  very  hard  to  get  two  hundred  or  three  hundred 
rubles,  and  to  get  any  man,  even  a  widower,  with 
three  or  four  children,  because  it  is  the  law,  that  she 
must  be  married,  and  it  is  a  disgrace,  if  she  is  not 
married.  A  girl  of  twenty-five  years  of  age  is  counted 
old,  as  usually  the  girls  get  married  young — sixteen, 
seventeen  or  eighteen  years  of  age  is  the  girl's  time  to 
be  married.  The  boy  must  keep  up  the  law  or  tradi- 
tion. The  law  says  "At  eighteen  years  thy  son  must 
be  married,"  and,  when  the  boy  is  studying  for  a 
Rabbi,  he  must  fulfill  this  law,  and,  when  he  breaks 
this  law,  he  cannot  become  a  Rabbi.  The  lower  class 
of  Jews  do  not  always  keep  the  law,  and  get  married 
any  time,  whenever  the  man  can  find  a  girl  with 
plenty  of  money. 


32  JUDAISM 

But  I  am  writing  of  the  Hebrew  law. 

The  Jewish  wedding  lasts  for  seven  days,  with  sing- 
ing, dancing,  drinking  and  eating.  The  young  couple 
may  not  be  present,  but  the  guests  are  there  just  the 
same,  and  the  music  is  there  and  the  dancing  goes  on 
all  the  time.  If  the  girl's  father  is  well  to  do,  he  keeps 
the  couple  for  a  year  or  two  in  his  home  and  provides 
them  with  food  and  clothing.  The  reason  is  that  he  or 
the  mother  is  to  take  care  of  them  and  show  them  how 
to  live  and  to  obey  one  another.  And  sometimes  it  is 
made  up  between  the  two  fathers  that  the  girl's  father 
shall  feed  them  and  keep  them  for  two  years  and 
take  the  son-in-law  into  business  and  make  him  a 
useful  husband. 

The  marriage  ceremony  is  written  and  conducted  by 
the  Rabbi  in  the  presence  of  four  witnesses,  and  is  per- 
pormed  in  the  Synagogue  before  the  whole  congrega- 
tion. The  bridegroom  is  taken  under  a  canopy.  Then 
the  bride  and  her  parents  and  her  relations  come  in 
and  walk  around  the  bridegroom  seven  times.  After 
this,  the  Rabbi  reads  the  contract,  and  the  duty  he  (the 
bridegroom)  has  to  perform  to  his  wife.  Then  the 
Rabbi  takes  a  glass  of  wine  and  blesses  it,  and  drinks  a 
little,  and  gives  it  also  to  the  bridegroom  and  to  the 
bride  under  her  heavy  veil.  Then  the  Rabbi  places  the 
glass  on  the  floor  and  tells  the  bridegroom  to  stand 
upon  it  and  break  it  with  his  foot,  and,  after  all  this, 
the  congregation  repeats  aloud,  "Mazel,  Tow,  Mazel 
Tow"  (good  luck,  good  luck) .  Then  the  music  plays  a 
happy  march  through  the  streets,  bride  and  bridegroom 
walking  side  by  side,  and  the  crowd  following,  until 
they  reach  the  home  where  the  wedding  is  to  take  place. 
Many  women  meet  the  bride  and  bridegroom  with  long 
loaves  of  bread,  dancing  before  them  with  the  I6aves 


JUDAISM  33 

held  high  in  their  hands,  as  a  symbol  that  bread  shall 
always  be  before  them  in  full  measure. 

Long  tables  are  set,  and  everybody  sits  down,  the 
bride  and  groom  on  the  front  seats,  the  Rabbi  beside 
them  as  a  guest  of  honor.  After  twelve  o  'clock  at  night 
the  dancing  begins.  The  girls  dance  with  the  girls,  and 
the  men  with  the  men,  and  the  musicians  get  ten 
kopike  (five  cents)  for  every  person  who  wants  to 
dance. 

Every  morning  at  six  o'clock  through  the  seven  days 
of  the  wedding,  the  musicians  go  to  every  one  of  the 
guests  who  are  invited  to  the  wedding  to  play  for  them 
under  the  window  a  happy  march.  The  whole  town,  if 
it  isn  't  very  large,  knows  the  wedding  is  still  on. 

Strangers  are  invited  to  eat  and  drink,  no  matter 
whether  Jew  or  Gentile.  All  are  welcome.  The  bride 
and  groom  are  in  hiding,  and  nobody  knows  where 
they  are.  A  company  of  young  men  try  to  find  them, 
and,  after  they  are  found,  they  are  brought  back  to 
the  dance  hall,  where  they  have  to  kiss  one  another  in 
the  presence  of  all.  The  bride  and  groom  are  blush- 
ing terribly  and  ashamed,  and  everybody  is  laughing 
heartily  and  having  a  good  time. 

This  wedding  ceremony  is  still  performed  by  the 
Jews  in  Poland,  or  by  the  1 1  Chasidim, ' '  the  holy  He- 
brews in  Russia. 

CIMCUMCISION 

Not  many  Christians  know  the  meaning  of  this  great 
commandment  which  God  has  made  an  everlasting 
covenant  to  Abraham.  There  is  a  question  by  many 
people,  "  Could  not  God  have  made  some  other  cove- 
nant than  circumcision  ? "  It  was  greatly  necessary  for 
that  time  and  climate  to  be  operated  on,  and  even  today 
wa-will  find  that  the  Jewish  nation  are  the  healthiest 


34  JUDAISM 

and  strongest  in  the  body,  soul  and  spirit.  In  five 
thousand  years  hundreds  of  nations  have  died  out  com- 
pletly  from  diseases,  sickness,  and  many  nations  from 
the  cholera  epidemic.  The  Jew  walked  among  them, 
worked  among  them,  and  buried  them,  and  escaped 
from  the  epidemics,  and  has  been  left  untouched. 

The  Egyptian  epidemics  in  Moses '  time  are  taken  for 
miracles,  but  it  was  the  Abrahamic  covenant  which 
saved  them  from  the  great  epidemics. 

"One  drop  of  blood  for  my  sake,"  circumcision. 
The  Jewish  nation  never  had  thirteen  million  people 
since  the  nation  has  been  in  existence.  Today  they 
have  thirteen  million  living  all  over  the  world,  stronger 
and  healthier  than  ever  before.  Thousands  are  getting 
killed  and  ten  thousand  ar e  born  in  their  place.  The 
man  who  doesn't  believe  H&God  could  not  understand 
the  covenant  with  Abraham^ 

I  could  not  explain  to  you  the  great  meaning  and 
benefit  to  man  of  circumcision?  I  may  explain  to  any 
man  privately,  or  by  mai] ,  if  required.  One  thing  you 
may  know,  it  is  absolutely  painless  and  harmless,  if  the 
operator  is  a  specialist.  Moses  circumcized  his  two 
sons  with  a  sharp  stone  he  found  in  the  wilderness. 

Abraham  circumcized  Ishmael  when  thirteen  years 
of  age.  The  children  of  Israel  kept  the  commandment 
in  Egyptian  slavery,  and  even  today  every  reform  Jew 
is  keeping  this  special  commandment,  circumcision. 

In  Poland,  this  circumcision  day  with  the  Hebrew 
people  is  greater  than  a  wedding  day,  because  every- 
body will  see  a  wonderful  guest  coming.  This  is  Elijah, 
the  Prophet,  and  a  chair  is  especially  prepared  for  him 
next  to  the  "Sandek"  (the  man  who  has  the  honor  to 
hold  the  baby  on  his  knees  when  circumcised) .  No  one 
must  sit  on  this  seat  of  Elijah ;  it  is  holy.  The  mother 


JUDAISM  35 

dresses  the  baby  specially  for  this  occasion.  The 
women  prepare  the  baby  for  the  man.  When  they  are 
ready  and  everybody  present,  the  baby  is  brought  in 
on  a  soft  pillow  with  roses  all  around,  and  is  ilanded 
over  to  the  Rabbi.  As  usual  he  is  the  ' '  Sandek. ' ' 

The  "Mohel"  (operator)  begins  the  ceremony  with 
a  prayer.  The  father  is  asked,  if  he  gives  over  his  child 
according  to  the  law  and  covenant  of  God  and  Abra- 
ham, and  he  says,  "Yes,  I  do."  The  "Mohel"  takes 
the  operation  knife,  which  is  sharper  than  a  razor,  and 
with  his  left  hand  finger  and  thumb  takes  gently  the 
foreskin  (according  to  the  size)  and  says,  "I  circum- 
cize  you  as  God  has  commanded  our  father  Abraham  to 
do  in  his  name, ' '  and  all  say,  ' '  Amen, ' '  and  it  is  over. 
By  law  he  must  suck  the  ]$bod  out  of  the  wound  and  a 
special  powder  is  put  onjjV,  and  the  baby  is  given  over 
to  the  mother  again.  The  men  in  the  other  room  are 
eating,  drinking  and  singing  at  the  same  time,  until 
late  at  night. 

My  circumcision  was  on  Atonement  day,  and  I  was 
brought  into  the  Synagogue,  and  the  circumcision  was 
performed  there  for  the  whole  congregation  on  this 
holy  day.  It  must  be  performed  on  the  eighth  day  and 
put  over  one  day  longer,  except  the  baby  is  not  well. 

Three  days  later  the  baby  is  well  and  the  wound  can 
be  washed.  There  is  no  conversion  in  becoming  a  Jew  - 
except  circumcision.  If  a  man  is  a  Jew  and  not  cir- 
cumcized,  he  is  not  counted  in  the  Jewish  nation,  even 
if  he  is  in  the  Jewish  religion  and  keeps  the  command- 
ments and  traditions.  The  foundation  of  Judaism  is 
circumcision.  The  holiest  and  most  honored  command- 
ment over  all  commandments  is  this  covenant  to  the 
seed  of  Abraham.  I  know  many  Jews  in  Poland  who 


36  JUDAISM 

are  not  circumcized,  but  they  are  counted  very  little  in 
the  Jewish  community. 

I  remember  the  circumcision  party  of  my  brother.  I 
was  only  a  boy  of  six  years.  When  my  father  came 
to  mother's  bed  after  the  party  left,  he  took  in  his  arms 
the  baby  and  tears  were  streaming  on  his  cheeks,  and 
he  said, ' '  My  son !  today  you  became  a  Jew.  There  is  a 
long  and  thorny  road  before  you,  persecutions,  con- 
demnations and  torture,  and  death  will  face  you  on 
every  footstep  of  thy  way.  Remember,  thou  art  the 
son  of  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob.  Thy  faith  is  trou- 
ble, sorrow  and  persecution.  Be  strong  and  faithful 
for  our  Father's  sake."  And  he  kissed  the  baby,  and 
Mother  wept  half  the  day,  and  I  cried. 

THE  HEBREW  CHARITY  INSTITUTIONS  AND 
PHILANTHROPISTS 

The  Jewish  nation  is  protected  by  two  great  powers, 
by  unity  and  by  faith;  and,  for  this  reason,  you  will 
not  find  many  tramps  or  beggars.  Every  Jewish  com- 
munity has  a  charity  club.  When  a  Jew  comes  in  a 
town  and  is  penniless,  he  goes  to  this  institution  and 
must  prove  that  he  is  a  Jew,  and  will  get  food  and 
room  for  three  days,  and  must  look  out  for  a  job  in 
this  time.  If  he  finds  work,  it  is  all  right.  If  not,  he 
gets  a  train  ticket  to  go  and  find  work  elsewhere. 

New  York  has  the  largest  Hebrew  charity  institution 
in  the  world.  Thousands  of  poor  Jews  are  provided 
with  food,  fuel,  and  even  rent,  free  hospitals  and  free 
medical  attention,  even  free  laying-in  hospitals  for 
women,  and  the  poor  women  are  provided  with  baby 
clothes  and  four  weeks'  medical  attention.  There  are 
free  soup  kitchens  through  the  cold  winter  and  free 
bread  for  the  poor. 


JUDAISM  37 

The  Hebrew  community  in  every  large  city  has  a 
free  loan  office,  where  every  poor  Jew  can  get  $50  to 
$100  to  make  a  start  in  life  when  he  is  down  and  out. 
He  gets  two  or  three  securities,  and  he  pays  so  much  a 
week  or  a  month  back  on  the  money  he  took  without 
any  interest. 

Thousands  of  Jews  have  become  rich  through  this 
"Gemilas  Chasadim"  (Charity  Loan  Office),  and  to- 
day this  poor  man  who  got  rich  is  a  first-class  member 
to  this  charity. 

The  Hebrew  believes  in  charity.  This  is  his  princi- 
pal religion.  "Zidoca,  Tazil,  Mimoves"  (Charity  will 
save  you  from  death).  The  Hebrew  must  not  refuse 
even  a  Gentile,  if  he  ask  him  for  bread  and  bread  for 
his  children.  The  Hebrew  charity  organizations  have 
taken  care  of  every  poor  Jew  in  town  and  will  not  per- 
mit him  (the  Jew)  to  ask  from  the  Christian  Charity 
Institutions. 

The  Hebrew  has  a  free  school  in  every  large  city  for 
studying  the  Hebrew  Bible  and  the  Hebrew  prayers, 
and,  in  the  little  towns,  the  Eabbi  gives  lessons  to  the 
Jewish  children  in  Hebrew.  For  this  reason  the  nation 
is  still  living  and  united  together  more  than  ever  be- 
fore. 

The  Hebrew  is  democratic  through  and  through  and 
loves  freedom  and  peace,  and,  through  this  alone,  he 
has  shown  himself  patriotic  in  the  United  States  by 
giving  65,000  young  men  to  the  army  and  has  paid 
close  to  a  billion  dollars  for  Liberty  Bonds.  He  loves 
a  nation  of  freedom  and  will  give  all  he  has,  if  neces- 
sary, to  protect  democracy. 

The  greatest  philanthropist  amongst  the  Jews  is 
Jacob  Schiff.  Millions  of  dollars  have  been  sent  by  him 
and  through  him  for  the  suffering  Jews  in  Poland,  and, 


38  JUDAISM 

even  today,  he  is  the  head  of  the  Jewish  Charity  organ- 
ization in  the  United  States. 

The  late  Baron  Hirsch  from  Frankfurt  has  left  his 
entire  fortune,  forty  million  dollars,  for  the  Jewish 
Colonization  in  Palestine,  and  for  this  money  twenty- 
two  colonies  had  been  established  in  Palestine  before 
the  war  broke  out,  and  these  colonists  prospered  in 
agriculture  until  the  Turks  came  and  destroyed  it  all 
lately  and  killed  many  of  the  Jewish  families  in  the 
last  Palestine  drive. 

Rice  Bros.,  in  St.  Louis,  two  influential  Jewish  cloth- 
ing manufacturers,  have  given  $160,000.00  for  the 
Jewish  relief  in  Poland,  to  save  their  brethren  there 
from  starvation.  The  Jews  in  4:he  United  States  have 
sent  seven  million  dollars  to  the  suffering  Jews  in  Rus- 
sia in  the  four  years'  war,  and  the  Zionists  in  the 
United  States  are  on  a  drive  for  a  billion  dollars  to  take 
all  the  Jews  out  from  the  persecuted  countries,  when 
Palestine  opens  its  doors  for  them. 

Through  their  faith,  love,  and  charity,  the  Jewish 
nation  will  bloom  again.  Through  their  charities  and 
brotherly  love,  they  will  come  home  again,  and  God 
will  punish  the  oppressors  who  oppressed  Israel,  and 
Israel  will  see  the  mistakes  they  have  made  in  re- 
jecting their  Messiah. 

TRADITIONS 

The  Jew  has  ten  commandments  to  keep,  and  613 
traditions  from  the  Rabbinical  law.  Many  of  the  read- 
ers will  say,  "  Where  does  he  get  all  these  traditions — 
from  the  Bible  ?"  It  is  not  the  Bible  alone  which  is 
holy  to  the  Jewish  nation.  It  is  every  book  printed  in 
the  Hebrew  language,  such  book  is  just  as  holy  as  the 
Bible.  The  traditionalist  said  that  on  every  Monday 
and  Tuesday  every  man  must  fast,  and  on  these  two 


JUDAISM  39 

days  they  are  fasting.  "Why?  Because  Monday  is 
holy.  It  is  the  third  day  from  Saturday.  Thursday  is 
the  third  day  from  Monday  and  Jehovah  is  three,  and 
that  three  is  holy. 

TheJHebrew  must  not  cut  his  finger-nails  on  Thurs- 
day because  they  will  begin  to  grow  on  the  third  day, 
which  is  Saturday,  and  Saturday  is  holy.  Nothing 
must  grow  this  day.  So  he  cuts  them  on  Friday. 

The  finger-nails  must  not  be  thrown  away  on  the 
floor  or  in  the  street.  They  must  be  placed  in  a  paper, 
every  bit  of  it,  and  when  it  is  all  finished,  he  must  take 
three  little  pieces  of  wood,  mix  them  up  amongst  the 
nails  and  throw  them  in  the  fire.  Why  ?  Because  the 
nails  are  connected  to  the  body  which  belongs  to  God, 
and  when  the  Angel  in  the  grave  will  ask  him  before 
the  resurrection,  " Where  is  thy  finger-nails?  What 
have  you  done  with  them  ? "  he  will  call  the  three  pieces 
of  wood  as  witnesses  that  he  has  burned  them  in  the 
fire.  But,  if  he  did  not  put  in  wood  and  wasted  some 
of  the  nails  on  the  floor  or  in  the  street,  then  the 
Angel  may  tell  him  to  go  and  find  them  and  not  to 
come  back  till  he  has  found  them,  and  it  may  take 
thousands  of  years  to  find  them.  This  is  tradition, 
and  he  could  not  be  resurrected  until  he  brought  the 
nails  to  the  Angel. 

You  must  not  touch  the  candle-stick  on  the  table  on 
Saturday.  Why?  Because  ,if  you  won't  touch  the 
candlestick,  you  will  not  touch  the  candle,  and,  if  you 
do  not  touch  the  candle,  you  will  not  light  the  candle. 
And  it  is  written  ' '  Thou  shalt  not  make  a  fire  on  Sab- 
bath Day. ' '  To  protect  you  from  making  a  fire,  tradi- 
tion made  this  command  not  to  touch  the  candlestick. 

It  is  lawful  to  sit  by  the  table  wtih  three  men  at 
every  meal.  A  woman  doesn  't  count.  Two  men  and  a 


40  JUDAISM 

boy  of  13  years  of  age  is  counted.  Two  men  and  a  boy 
under  13  years  of  age  is  not  counted.  Every  Hebrew 
boy  becomes  a  man  when  13,  and  he  (the  boy)  has  to 
perform  all  the  613  laws  and  traditions,  as  in  fasting 
and  praying  amongst  the  older  people. 

It  is  unlawful  to  eat  beef  and  to  drink  milk  to- 
gether or  soon  after  the  beef  meal.  The  party  must 
wait  six  hours  after  a  beef  dinner  to  drink  milk  or 
use  butter.  And  one  hour  from  a  milk  dinner  to  use 
beef,  because  it  takes  six  hours  to  digest  the  beef 
and  one  hour  to  digest  the  milk.  This  is  a  Mosaic 
law,  covered  with  a  tradition.  ' '  Thou  shalt  not  cook 
a  little  goat  in  his  mother's  milk." 

Before  finishing  his  morning  prayer,  he  must  spit 
out  three  times  on  the  floor,  or  pretend  to  spit,  that  all 
evil  may  go  out  from  him. 

Every  Hebrew  must  have  a  piece  of  parchment 
nailed  to  the  door  post  and  a  Hebrew  scripture  must 
be  written  on  it.  This  is  to  keep  Satan  out  of  the 
room;  and  no  Hebrew  will  pass  over  a  door-step,  if 
one  of  these  parchments  is  not  on  his  door  post. 

When  a  woman  is  married,  she  must  have  her  hair 
cut  off  close  to  her  scalp  and  put  on  a  wig  of  false  hair ; 
and,  on  her  marriage  day  this  haircut  is  performed, 
because  long  hair  is  the  beauty  of  a  woman  and  by  cut- 
ting it  off  her  head  she  loses  her  beauty.  It  is  written 
"Thou  shalt  not  covet  thy  neighbor's  wife." 

It  is  lawful  for  every  Hebrew  to  be  punished  and 
strapped  for  his  sins  which  he  has  done  through  the 
year.  Atonement  Eve  will  show  us  how  it  is  done. 
Before  having  his  last  fasting  meal  on  Atonement  Eve, 
he  goes  to  the  Synagogue  for  prayer.  In  the  corridor 
of  the  Synagogue,  before  entering  into  the  Auditorium, 
there  are  four  or  five  men  in  waiting  with  long  black 


JUDAISM  41 

straps  for  anyone  who  wishes  to  be  strapped,  thirty- 
nine  straps  to  be  slashed  on  his  back  when  he  lays  with 
his  face  to  the  floor,  and  every  strapper  gets  paid  more 
or  less  from  the  man  he  straps. 

It  is  necessary  that  some  one  must  suffer  and  pay 
with  his  life  for  the  sins  of  the  body.  For  this  reason 
everybody  provides  himself  with  a  rooster  for  a  man 
and  a  hen  for  a  woman  on  Atonement  Eve.  And  this 
is  how  it  is  done :  Father  gets  together  his  boys  and 
holds  a  big  white  rooster  by  his  feet.  All  heads  are 
close  together  and  father  holds  the  rooster  over  every 
head  and  says,  "All  the  sins  I  have  done  this  year,  and 
my  children's  sins,  and  the  sins  from  all  Israel,  shall 
go  in  the  rooster,  and  thy  life  shall  be  sacrified,  to  die 
for  us  and  for  our  sins. ' '  And  the  wife  does  the  same 
with  a  hen  for  her  girls.  Then  comes  the  killer  and 
kills  the  birds,  and  the  wife  takes  off  the  feathers  and 
cleans  it  and  cooks  it,  and  they  eat  it  all  back  again — 
the  rooster,  the  hen  and  the  sins.  (Tradition.) 

It  is  unlawful  for  men  and  women  to  eat  together  at 
one  table.  During  eating  time  at  the  table  nothing 
must  be  spoken  but  Hebrew,  law  and  the  scriptures,  in 
Hebrew. 

You  must  not  blow  out  a  candle  on  Saturday  or  make 
a  fire  this  day  or  cook  food  or  carry  around  anything 
in  your  pocket,  or  talk  business  or  make  long  walks,  or 
break  anything.  For  this  day  is  holy. 

Honor  to  parents  and  older  people  is  the  greatest  law 
of  the  Hebrew.  To  honor  thy  father  and  mother  is  the 
greatest  commandment  of  the  Hebrew.  I  know  an  old 
man  70  years  of  age.  He  had  a  son  50  years  old,  and 
that  50-year-old  man  had  a  son  30  years  old,  and  the 
grandfather  came  to  visit  his  son,  and  the  grandson 
gave  the  old  man  a  chair  to  sit  down.  The  father  called 


42  JUDAISM 

his  son  "Murderer"  and  hit  him  in  the  face  and  said: 
"You  have  robbed  me  of  a  duty  and  a  commandment. 
It  was  my  duty  to  give  my  father  a  chair,  not  you." 
And  the  father  of  the  young  son  wept  and  prayed  to 
God  for  forgiveness.  It  shows  how  loyal  the  Hebrews 
are  to  keep  the  law  and  commandments. 

A  Hebrew  will  never  stand  with  a  bare  head  before  a 
man,  not  even  for  a  king.  He  may  take  off  his  hat,  but 
will  still  have  another  little  cap  on  top  of  his  head 
(and  many  Jews  have  lost  their  lives  through  this  tra- 
dition). The  Hebrew  must  not  kneel  down  and  pray 
to  God  without  a  hat  or  cap  on  his  head.  It  is  unlawful 
to  do  this.  God  is  his  father  and  he  must  not  take  off 
his  hat  for  his  father. 

Every  Hebrew  must  be  baptized  before  the  morning 
prayer. 

THE  HEBREW  SCHOOL 

Every  boy,  when  three  or  four  years  old,  begins  to 
go  to  "Chaider"  (School).  Every  community  has  a 
teacher.  He  (the  teacher)  rents  a  room  for  12  or  15 
children  to  be  present.  There  is  one  long  table  in  the 
middle  of  the  room  with  benches  around  three  parts  of 
the  table  and  one  chair  at  one  end,  which  is  for  the 
teacher.  The  first  time  the  child  is  brought  in  Chaider 
it  is  very  interesting  and  comical.  The  child  is  wrapped 
in  the  holy  robe  and  carried  by  the  father  into 
Chaider.  The  old  teacher  (generally  the  teacher  is  an 
old  man),  with  his  long  white  beard  and  holy  robe, 
takes  the  child  on  his  knee  with  a  kind  and  gentle 
smile  to  get  the  confidence  of  the  child,  then  opens  the 
Hebrew  Prayer  Book  to  show  him  the  alphabet,  and  he 
tells  the  child  all  kinds  of  jokes  and  fairy  stories.  The 
child  becomes  used  to  the  old  man  and  begins  to  love 
the  teacher.  The  first  lesson  begins.  "  Now,  little  boy, " 


JUDAISM  43 

says  teacher,  "do  you  know  that  the  angels  are  on  the 
top  of  the  roof  and  are  looking  down  through  this 
hole?"  (and  he  shows  him  a  hole  in  the  ceiling).  The 
boy  looks  up  and  sees  the  hole  and  says,  "Yes,  I  can 
see  it. ' '  "  You  see, ' '  says  the  teacher, ' '  if  you  will  be  a 
good  boy  and  learn  the  holy  words,  he  (the  angel)  will 
give  you  many  good  things  through  this  little  hole. 
Now  say  'Alef  (a)."  The  boys  say  "Alef."  "Can 
you  see  how  the  Alef  looks,  and  will  you  not  forget  it  ? " 
1 '  Say  it  again, ' '  and  the  boy  says  it  again  and  again, 
and  a  big  bag  of  candy  falls  on  the  top  of  the  book.  The 
child  blushes  and  the  teacher  looks  innocently  up  to 
the  hole  in  the  ceiling  and  the  boy  looks  up  to  the  ceil- 
ing with  his  little  heart  beating  fast,  and  the  teacher 
says :  ' l  The  angels  have  thrown  this  to  you  from  this 
little  hole. ' '  And  the  child  wonders  how  a  big  bag  of 
candy  can  go  through  this  little  hole,  but  it  is  all  possi- 
ble, for  angels,  but  in  fact  father  has  thrown  this  from 
behind  the  teacher.  The  child  will  come  home  with  the 
greatest  desire  to  go  back  and  get  more  candy,  and 
every  time  he  knows  the  lesson  he  gets  candy,  and 
something  more  than  that. 

After  he  is  in  school  for  six  months  and  can  read 
Hebrew,  everything  changes.  Teacher  is  no  more  kind 
to  him.  He  must  go  on,  and  on,  to  know  and  fulfill  the 
teacher's  command.  Father  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
boys  when  in  school.  All  is  left  to  the  teacher.  The 
boy  is  not  afraid  of  any  man  in  his  town  but  his 
teacher.  The  least  mistake  he  makes  at  home,  in  the 
street  or  in  school,  he  will  get  punished  by  the  teacher, 
and  father  must  not  interfere  as  long  as  the  boy  is  un- 
der the  control  of  the  teacher. 

School  time  is  from  9 :00  a.  m.  till  12 :00  noon,  and 
he  has  one  hour  for  lunch  or  play,  and  again  from 


44  JUDAISM 

1.00  p.m.  till  7 :30  or  8 :00  o'clock  in  the  evening.  The 
boy  studies  very  hard,  and  he  must  know  his  lesson, 
and  nobody  must  help  him.  He  studies  in  the  presence 
of  the  teacher,  and,  if  he  makes  a  mistake,  he  (the 
teacher)  will  twist  his  ears  and  make  a  corkscrew  out 
of  them.  The  boy  cannot  go  out  and  play  in  school 
time.  He  brings  a  sandwich  from  home  for  the  after- 
noon school,  and  eats  his  supper  when  he  comes 
home  late. 

Friday  is  a  half  day  school,  but  there  is  plenty  to  do 
at  home.  He  must  go  through  the  songs  of  Solomon. 
He  must  sing  over  the  Bible  Lesson  from  the  whole 
week  study.  (The  Hebrew  doesn't  read  the  Bible;  he 
sings  the  Bible. )  Every  word  in  the  Hebrew  Bible  has 
a  singing  note,  and  the  teacher  studies  the  melody  with 
the  boy  at  the  same  time  when  reading.  When  the  boy 
has  all  finished  the  Friday  afternoon  reading,  he  has  to 
go  to  the  Synagogue  because  it  is  Sabbath  evening. 
The  teacher  is  in  the  Synagogue,  and  the  boy  has  to  be- 
have. "How  was  my  boy  last  week,  teacher?"  asks 
father  in  the  presence  of  the  boy.  The  boy  is  waiting 
for  his  verdict,  and  with  a  pitiful  smile  he  looks  up  on 
the  teacher  and  both  pair  of  eyes  are  meeting.  If  the 
teacher  is  in  a  good  humor,  he  will  say,  "Well !  he  was 
not  so  bad!"  And  if  the  teacher  says,  "Bad;  very 
bad!"  God  have  mercy  on  that  poor  boy.  He  will 
have  to  go  to  bed  without  supper,  and  get  a  good 
thrashing  besides. 

The  children  are  brought  up  very  strictly,  and  under 
so-called  German  discipline  •  but  they  are  not  Germans, 
thank  God.  Teacher,  father,  mother,  and  God,  all  four 
are  very  highly  respected  (especially  teacher). 

The  Christians  think  the  Jew  has  only  to  study  the 
Old  Testament  and  Talmud.  The  Old  Testament  is  the 


JUDAISM  45 

easiest  book  for  the  boy  to  study.  The  principle  thing 
is  Talmud.  The  Talmud  is  not  one  book.  It  is  a  whole 
libary.  It  contains  24  text-books,  each  16  by  8  inches. 
The  books  are  printed  in  the  Chaldean  and  Aramaic 
languages. 

First,  he  has  to  translate  into  Hebrew  and  Jewish, 
and  study  the  meaning  of  the  old  Eabbinical  mind.  It 
has  hundreds  of  commentaries  from  many  Eabbis  who 
do  not  agree  with  the  questions  and  answers  of  the 
Rabbis  of  old.  And  then  comes  a  discussion  of  20 
pages  to  go  through  to  study  the  arguments  of  both 
parties,  the  Talmudical  and  Rabbinical,  and  he  (the 
student)  has  to  find  out  which  party  is  right,  or  which 
one  agrees  with  the  teacher's  judgment. 

The  Talmud  could  not  be  translated  in  any  language 
because  it  is  all  mind  training.  It  may  take  three 
months  to  get  the  right  result  on  one  chapter. 

When  13  years  of  age,  the  boy  is  brought  in  the  Syn- 
agogue and  taken  on  the  pulpit  and  must  give  his  Tal- 
mudical lecture  (Drosche),  and  then  he  is  a  Hebrew  in 
full  and  is  counted  among  the  grown-up  men.  If  the 
boy  is  well  learned  and  he  knows  more  than  an  old  He- 
brew, everybody  will  give  him  the  greatest  respect,  and 
he  will  be  called  Rabbi,  even  if  he  is  not. 

I  know  a  man,  a  great  Talmudist,  and  the  greatest 
Hebrew  scholar  in  his  time.  His  name  is  Rabbi  Katz. 
I  remember,  when  he  was  a  boy  of  15  years  of  age,  his 
father  used  to  call  him  Rabbi ;  and  his  father  used  to 
stand  up  when  talking  to  him. 

I  remember  when  he  used  to  pass  through  the  aisles 
in  the  Synagogue  to  go,  to  the  front  seat  where  it  was 
his  place  to  go,  everybody  in  the  Synagogue  used  to 
stand  up  before  him  till  he  came  to  his  seat  and  sat 
down. 


46  JUDAISM 

The  Hebrew  doesn't  respect  and  honor  the  man,  but 
the  knowledge  and  wisdom  and  the  holiness  of  the 
Hebrew  within  the  man. 

Every  man  who  knows  the  Talmud  is  provided  for 
and  protected  by  the  Jewish  nation  forever. 


The  Chasidim 

This  is  a  sect  in  the  Jewish  nation  who  are  called 
the  Chasidim  (the  select).  They  have  a  Eabbi  out 
of  their  own  people  and  he  is  very  holy  and  is  the  in- 
tercessor for  his  sect  to  God,  like  the  Pope  to  the 
Catholics.  Not  many  of  the  Misnagdim  (liberal 
Jews)  have  the  honor  to  speak  to  him  or  see  him. 
This  Rabbi  has  so  many  assistants  that  they  could 
not  be  counted.  Before  you  can  see  the  Rabbi  you 
have  to  go  through  the  army  of  these  assistants,  and 
every  one  of  them  wants  to  live,  and  every  one  ex- 
pects something  from  you.  And  besides,  the  Rabbi 
himself  wants  to  live,  and  all  are  getting  l  f  Nedoves  ' ' 
(gifts). 

The  first  time  I  came  to  the  Rabbi  before  I  left 
for  the  University  for  a  blessing,  my  father,  also  a 
"Chasid"  and  well  known  by  the  Rabbi's  Schama- 
ism  (assistants),  took  me  straight  in  to  him.  My 
father  was  left  on  the  other  side  of  the  door  and 
I  went  in.  I  found  the  Rabbi  talking  and  swimming 
with  his  hands  in  the  air,  but  did  not  see  any  strang- 
ers in  the  room,  only  himself.  He  stood  up  and  took 
out  a  book  from  his  library  and  ran  with  the  book 
to  the  table,  opened  it,  and  said,  "You  see!  There 
it  is.  And  you  cannot  argue  with  me.  You  have  to 
discuss  this  matter  over  with  'Ha  Scham  Jesborach' 
(God),  and  He  will  tell  you  that  I  am  right." 

After  fifteen  minutes  standing  in  the  corner  and 
my  heart  beating  fast  in  me  for  fear,  and  realizing 
that  I  was  in  his  presence  and  he  was  talking  to  the 
Angels — having  a  great  argument  with  the  "Schich- 

47 


48  JUDAISM 

imo,"  I  lost  control.  "What  do  you  want,  son  of 
Benzion  (my  father's  name)?"  I  heard  a  heavy 
baritone  voice  saying,  meaning  me.  "What  do  you 
want?  Don't  come  close  to  me.  Say,  what  do  you 
want?" 

"Holy  Rabbi,"  said  I,  "my  father  sent  me  to  get 
blessed  before  I  leave  town,"  said  I,  with  a  trem- 
bling voice.  "Where  are  you  going,  my  son?"  said 
his  holiness.  "I  am  going  to  study  to  become  a 
Rabbi,"  said  I.  "God  will  bless  you,  and  you  will 
become  all  you  have  desired.  Take  this  'Cameia' 
and  it  will  give  you  all  the  blessing  God  has  pre- 
pared for  you,"  and  he  handed  me  a  three-cornered 
piece  of  parchment  with  a  little  hole  in  one  corner, 
meaning  I  should  carry  this  around  my  neck  all  my 
life. 

I  ran  out  into  the  corridor,  which  was  full  of 
people  waiting  to  see  him  and  be  blessed.  I  showed 
the  Cameia  to  father  and  to  many  others  and  was 
sure  that  I  would  become  a  Rabbi,  and  all  the  people 
were  sure  that  Benzoin's  son  would  become  a  Rabbi 
— that  I  went  on  a  solid  foundation  to  my  new  Rab- 
binical job.  (My  father  paid  the  Rabbi  50  rubles 
for  this  Cameia.) 

\  The  Chasidisher  Rabbi  is  the  greatest  power 
"among  the  Chasidim.  He  is  not  elected  by  the  con- 
gregation and  does  not  have  to  go  through  a  Hebrew 
schooling.  The  title  is  handed  down  from  father  to 
son,  and  the  first-born  son  of  a  Rabbi  inherits  the 
position.  If  there  is  no  son,  the  Rabbi's  brother  gets 
the  crown.  If  there  is  no  brother,  a  new  Rabbi  is 
elected  from  the  congregation.  There  are  close  to 
two  million  Chasidim  in  the  Jewish  nation  and  there 
are  many  Rabbis  of  this  kind. 


JUDAISM  49 

Every  large  city  and  large  Chasidim  community 
has  a  Rabbi.  The  greatest  Eabbi  is  the  Bardichuwer. 
(Baridchux  is  a  large  Russian  town  with  a  large 
Jewish  population.)  He  has  750,000  followers,  and 
people  say  he  is  the  richest  man  among  all  the  Jews, 
and  his  followers  are  the  poorest  people  of  all  the 
Jewis.  A  "Chasid"  will  sell  his  horse  or  cow  and 
will  go  to  the  Rabbi  once  a  year  to  give  him  a 
"pidion"  (purse).  A  Chasid  will  save  every  penny 
from  the  daily  food  for  his  Rabbi,  because  he  will 
surely  be  blessed  by  him,  and  the  blessing  comes 
from  God  to  the  Rabbi. 

When  a  Chasid  is  sick,  he  goes  to  the  Rabbi  for 
healing.  When  a  woman  is  childless,  she  goes  to  the 
Rabbi  for  a  blessing  that  she  may  be  fruitful.  (Hun- 
dreds of  the  women  come  to  the  Rabbi  daily  with 
this  complaint.) 

When  a  Chasid  has  to  leave  town  because  he  can- 
not make  a  living,  he  goes  to  the  Rabbi  for  advice 
where  to  go  and  what  to  do.  When  a  husband  can- 
not live  happily  with  his  wife  and  they  cannot  agree, 
he  goes  to  the  Rabbi  and  asks  him  to  make  her 
obey  him.  (By  law  the  woman  must  obey  the  hus- 
band.) And  every  time  you  come  to  the  Rabbi,  you 
will  find  him  arguing  with  the  Angels  over  some- 
thing or  having  a  gentle  conversation  with  His  Holy 
Name  Jehovah,  personally. 

The  " Chasidim"  have  their  own  synagogue,  and 
the  people  who  don't  know  the  ways  of  a  Chasid, 
and  come  into  the  synagogue  the  first  time  might 
think  that  it  is  a  lunatic  asylum.  Everybody  is  run- 
ning around,  one  past  the  other  with  a  push.  Every- 
body is  praying  at  the  same  time.  Everybody  is 
hollering  and  singing  and  lifting  their  hands  up  in 


50  JUDAISM 

the  air,  pulling  the  hair  from  the  head  and  jumping 
in  every  direction.  He  stands  with  his  face  to  the 
wall  for  a  moment  and  will  make  all  kinds  of  move- 
ments, at  the  same  time  swinging  his  body  in  differ- 
ent directions. 

After  two  hours '  exercising,  one  man  will  stand 
up  on  a  seat  and  will  say :  ' t  Has  anyone  a  memorial 
day  today ?"  One  will  say:  "I,"  and  he  is  taken 
from  the  midst  of  the  crowd  and  lifted  on  a  table, 
and  the  crowd  will  holler,  "A  drink  of  whiskey!  let 
him  give  a  drink  of  whiskey ! ' '  and  he  will  send  for 
a  bottle  of  whiskey  and  a  little  glass,  and  everybody 
has  a  drop  with  a  piece  of  cake,  as  drinking 
"Lechaim"  means  "We  shall  live." 

The  Chasid  wears  a  long  silk  robe,  long  silk  stock- 
ing and  no  pants.  He  wears  slippers  and  a  belt 
around  his  waist.  He  is  in  the  buying  and  selling 
business,  and  very  seldom  you  will  find  a  Chasid  a 
tradesman.  It  is  a  shame  for  him  to  give  his  daugh- 
ter to  a  shoemaker  or  a  tailor,  and  he  lives  solely 
by  faith,  and  God  always  provides  for  him. 

THE  HEBREW  BUTCHER 

The  Jewish  people  have  their  own  butcher,  and  a 
butcher  cannot  be  anyone  who  wants  to  open  a 
butcher  shop.  He  must  have  permission  from  the 
Rabbi,  and  the  Rabbi  has  to  know  him  to  be  a  trust- 
worthy Jew  who  will  not  break  the  law  in 
"Schchito"  (killing  the  cattle).  There  are  over 
fifty  laws  to  follow  in  killing  and  preparing  the  beef 
until  it  comes  to  the  butcher,  and,  even  after  the 
women  have  brought  the  beef  home,  they  have  to 
prepare  it  by  law  before  they  can  place  it  in  the  pot 
for  cooking. 

The  cow  must  be  tied  with  all  four  legs  together, 


JUDAISM  51 

with  a  rope,  and  she  must  not  be  handled  rough. 
The  cow  is  thrown  on  the  floor  or  the  ground  and  her 
head  is  turned  with  her  throat  up.  The  Rabbi  has  a 
"Chalef"  (a  blade)  from  eight  to  nine  inches  long 
with  a  short  handle.  This  knife  is  sharper  than  a 
razor  and  is  especially  manufactured  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  Eabbi  who  kills  must  be  a  well-known 
Hebrew,  and  must  study  the  killing  law  for  many 
years  until  he  gets  permission  from  the  congrega- 
tional Rabbi  stating  that  he  is  in  good  standing  to 
take  care  of  this  work;  and  the  killer  gets  for  a 
wage  the  engagements  by  any  large  community. 

Before  killing,  the  "Chalef"  must  be  examined 
and  prepared.  He  holds  tight  with  his  left  hand  the 
cow's  throat  and  goes  gently  over  that  place  with 
the  '  *  Chalef , ' '  and  the  whole  throat  of  the  cow  must 
be  cut  through  from  ear  to  ear.  The  man  who  holds 
the  head  holds  it  until  all  the  blood  has  run  out  and 
there  is  no  more  life  left.  The  cow  is  cut  open  and 
the  lungs  are  taken  out  and  brought  into  a  room  and 
placed  on  a  table,  where  a  man  blows  up  through  the 
esophagus  until  the  lungs  cannot  become  any  larger ; 
then  the  killer  examines  the  lungs  all  around  the 
corners.  If  the  corners  are  blistered,  or  bubbles  are 
formed,  then  the  cow  cannot  be  used  for  the  Jewish 
butcher,  because  the  cow  has  been  sick  or  has  had  a 
disease.  Any  other  trouble  can  be  detected  in  this 
way.  If  the  lungs  do  not  blister  at  the  corners,  then 
the  cow  is  "kosher,"  clean  to  eat.  Many  times  the 
Jews  have  to  kill  three  or  four  cows  to  get  one  good 
one  which  is  fit  to  eat,  and  in  Poland  in  a  little  town 
where  on  Friday  there  is  only  one  cow  killed  to  get 
meat  for  Saturday,  if  a  cow  is  "traife"  or  unclean, 
then  all  the  Jews  from  this  town  have  to  be  without 


52  JUDAISM 

meat  on  Saturday  and  the  Hebrew  must  have  beef 
on  Sabbath  by  law. 

The  cattle  can  only  be  used  to  the  end  of  the  ribs, 
that  is,  the  upper  half.  The  lower  half  is  sold  to  the 
Gentiles.  The  reason  is,  the  Jew  must  not  eat  the 
veins,  and  in  the  upper  half  of  the  cow  the  veins 
are  exposed  so  that  they  can  be  taken  out  easily,  and 
there  is  a  special  man  who  knows  where  every  vein 
is  placed.  But  the  bottom  or  lower  half  is  nearly 
all  veins,  and  it  is  hard  to  take  them  out,  and  for  this 
reason  the  Hebrew  leaves  it  alone  and  doesn't  use  it. 
He  may  use  the  lower  half,  if  all  the  veins  are  taken 
out. 

The  lungs,  the  liver,  the  head  and  the  four  feet  are 
used  by  the  Jew  when  the  cow  is  clean  and  well. 

The  Jewish  women  in  Eussia  make  the  finest  meal 
out  of  the  feet.  The  poor  families  are  provided  with 
meat  on  Saturday.  Each  family  gets  one  foot  and 
pays  15  "copikes"  (71/>  cents)  for  it,  and  the  whole 
family  has  plenty  to  eat. 

The  butcher  has  to  pay  to  the  congregation  so 
much  a  year  for  a  permit  to  open  a  butcher  shop. 
There  are  many  permits  from  the  Rabbi  to  many 
religious  Jewish  butchers,  and  there  are  many  appli- 
cations for  a  Jewish  butcher  shop,  and  the  one  who 
pays  the  most  to  the  congregation  gets  the  butcher 
shop,  because  there  must  be  only  one  butcher  shop 
to  a  community. 

"When  a  woman  brings  home  the  beef  from  the 
butcher,  she  must  place  it  in  water  for  one  hour.  At 
the  end  of  the  hour  she  puts  it  on  a  salt  board  and 
sprinkles  much  salt  over  it,  and  it  must  remain  under 
the  salt  for  thirty  minutes.  Then  she  puts  it  in  the 
water  and  washes  and  cleans  it,  ready  for  cooking. 


JUDAISM  53 

This  shows  us  that  the  Jew  does  not  use  blood. 
Every  drop  of  blood  is  taken  out  before  it  can  be 
used  for  the  Jewish  table.  Blood  is  strictly  forbid- 
den by  the  law,  and  even  when  the  cattle  are  clean 
and  the  meat  is  clean,  the  blood  is  unclean. 

In  the  year  1500  many  thousands  of  Jews  were 
put  to  death  in  "Teso  Eslar,"  Greece,  when  the 
Greek  Catholics  had  accused  the  Jewish  population 
that  they  were  using  blood  from  Christian  children 
for  Passover  cakes;  and,  on  Passover  Day,  it  hav- 
ing been  found  in  the  Jewish  neighborhood,  a  Chris- 
tian child  died  the  day  before  Easter,  that  the  Chris- 
tians gave  out  the  report  that  the  Jews  had  killed 
the  child  and  used  its  blood  for  the  Easter  holiday. 
Twelve  thousand  Jews  were  brought  to  death  in  one 
week  as  a  result  of  the  false  accusation,  and  the 
Jewish  Eabbi  and  the  prominent  Jews  from  the  Syn- 
agogues were  brought  before  the  judges  and  were 
found  guilty  and  burned  in  the  market  place. 

Not  long  ago  you  will  all  remember  the  case  of 
Mendel  Bailes,  in  Russia,  and  his  great  trial,  having 
been  accused  of  killing  a  Russian  boy  thirteen  years 
of  age  and  using  his  blood  for  Passover  cakes.  Fin- 
ally it  was  proven  that  the  boy's  own  mother  had 
killed  him  and  placed  the  blame  on  the  Jews  for  the 
sake  of  revenge,  because  of  her  hatred  of  them. 
Blood  is  forbidden  for  use  under  any  circumstances 
by  the  Talmudical  and  Rabinnical  law,  and  for  this 
alone  the  blood  accusations  against  the  Jews  are 
much  against  the  fairness  of  Christianity. 


The  Synagogues 

The  Jew  in  Poland  has  two  prayer  houses — one 
is  for  Saturday  and  holidays  only,  called  the  Syna- 
gogue, and  the  other  for  week  days,  called  "Bit 
Hamedrosh"  (the  House  of  Study).  This  Bit  Hame- 
drosh  is  always  full  of  people,  and  there  you  will 
find  young  men  studying  the  Talmud  and  Misne, 
These  young  men  are  preparing  for  the  University 
for  special  training  as  teacher,  or  a  "Socet"  (who 
kills  the  cattle),  or  sometimes  for  getting  a  rich 
father-in-law. 

The  Bit  Hamedrosh  never  closes  its  doors.  If  a 
poor  stranger  comes  into  town  during  the  night,  he 
goes  in  Bit  Hamedrosh  and  is  protected  from  cold 
and  rain,  and  will  always  get  a  meal  from  the 
"  shames "  (housekeeper)  and  a  pillow  for  his  head. 
Every  Jew  finds  himself  at  home  where  there  is  the 
melody  from  different  voices,  some  one  praying, 
some  one  singing  psalms,  and  some  one  making  the 
melody  of  study. 

When  the  child  is  sick,  the  father  goes  in  Bit 
Hamedrosh  and  opens  the  ark  where  the  Pentateuch 
is  and  weeps  and  cries  to  God  for  healing,  and  many 
Jews  in  Bit  Hamedrosh  are  joining  him  in  his  prayer, 
and  the  psalmist  becomes  the  Great  Doctor.  And 
when  the  wife  or  husband  is  sick,  ten  men  are  called 
by  the  Rabbi,  and  the  Rabbi,  as  a  leader,  all  going 
along  with  their  holy  robes,  open  the  ark  and  begin 
prayer  in  a  loud  voice,  while  money  is  offered  to 
the  poor  and  needy. 

In  Bit  Hamedrosh  are  conducted  all  the  business 
54 


JUDAISM  55 

affairs  of  the  Jews,  and  all  the  elections  for  the  year 
of  high  officials.  For  the  election  of  a  President, 
"Gabe,"  second  a  "Sames"  (the  caretaker  over 
both  houses),  or  a  "mohel,"  a  circumciser.  The 
"Gabe"  is  picked  out  as  the  richest  Jew  in  town, 
that  he  may  have  money  enough  to  pay  the  debts 
when  behind  in  collections.  The  "Gabe"  pays  the 
Rabbi  his  salary,  and  the  poor  are  dependent  upon 
the  "Gabe"  in  the  community  for  charity,  and  the 
"Gabe"  has  to  be  responsible  for  the  orphans  and 
to  keep  the  widows  and  old  men,  and  for  the  Hebrew 
free  school  (Talmud  Tora).  All  belong  to  him  to 
be  taken  care  of.  And  this  is  the  reason  a  rich  man 
is  elected  for  the  job. 

Saturday  morning  the  business  begins  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  Holy  Pentateuch  (Tora).  The  Penta- 
teuch is  taken  out  from  the  ark  and  placed  on  the 
pulpit.  The  Hebrew  pulpit  stands  in  the  middle  of 
the  auditorium.  The  Rabbi  goes  around  the  pulpit 
with  the  Pentateuch  on  his  arms  and  sings,  and 
<every  Jew  he  passes  kisses  the  Pentateuch. 

When  the  cover  is  taken  off,  the  singer, ' '  Chasem, ' ' 
calls  up  first  a  Cohen  (from  the  tribe  of  Aaron)  to 
hear  the  reading  in  his  presence  of  six  verses  from 
the  chapter.  Seven  men  must  be  called  onto  the 
pulpit,  one  at  a  time,  to  hear  the  singer  read.  Sec- 
ond comes  a  Levy  (from  the  tribe  of  Moses),  and 
the  other  five  are  from  the  Jewish  congregation 
(from  the  tribe  of  Judah).  It  is  expected  from 
everyone  to  give  a  donation  for  some  institution,  or 
to  the  President  to  cover  the  expenses  for  the  need 
of  the  community.  For  this  donation  the  Rabbi 
blesses  him  in  the  presence  of  the  congregation. 
Large  sums  of  money  are  collected  by  these  dona- 


56  JUDAISM 

tions  through  a  year,  and  it  is  used  for  fuel  and 
lights  to  keep  the  Synagogue  in  good  order  and  to 
pay  the  salary  of  the  assistants.  Every  Jew,  on 
Memorial  Day,  which  conies  once  a  year,  donates 
some  money  to  the  Synagogue  for  the  soul  of  his 
parents. 

The  Hebrew  does  not  carry  money  on  Saturday. 
He  may  offer  $1000  on  Saturday  and  will  pay  the 
next  day  his  promise,  and  is  greatly  honored  by  the 
Jews  when  his  offering  is  a  large  amount. 
THE  HOPE  OP  ISRAEL 

What  is  the  Jew's  future  and  what  is  his  belief 
and  religion,  and  foundation  of  religion? 

The  foundation  of  Judaism  is :  First,  the  Messiah 
to  come,  not  the  one  who  has  been,  but  the  one  who 
has  to  come,  a  king,  a  ruler  over  the  nation,  and  to 
be  ruled  under  the  command  of  God  and  the  Law  of 
Moses.  Second,  to  possess  his  Holy  Land  again  with 
the  Holy  City  of  Jerusalem  as  a  center.  His  look- 
out is  for  the  Temple,  for  the  Priesthood  and  the 
Levys  and  the  Kingdom  of  David. 

The  Jew  says  that  Jesus  was  not  from  David  but 
from  Joseph,  and  the  Messiah  must  come  from 
David.  He  did  not  expect  a  Messiah  from  a  car- 
penter, but  from  a  king,  and  when  Jesus  came  there 
was  no  Jewish  king  ruling.  The  Jewish  nation  is 
not  to  blame  when  they  have  rejected  Jesus.  It 
was  the  tradition,  the  law  and  the  times  which  kept 
him  away  from  acknowledging  Jesus.  Christ  came 
in  time,  but  the  Jews  expect  from  Him  to  establish 
a  Jewish  kingdom,  and  Jesus  did  not  follow  the  Rab- 
binical law,  and  He  was  rejected  by  the  majority  of 
the  nation. 

The  Jew  says  Jesus  did  more  harm  to  the  Jews 


JUDAISM  57 

than  good,  but  the  Jews  do  not  understand,  even 
today,  that  it  was  not  Jesus  who  did  the  harm  to 
the  Jews ;  it  was  the  Jew  who  did  harm  to  himself 
in  rejecting  Jesus.  It  is  not  the  Jews  alone  who 
were  condemned  by  rejecting  Christ.  Everyone  is 
condemned — Gentiles  the  same  as  Jews.  Christ  did 
not  make  the  Jewish  nation  an  example.  The  Jew- 
ish nation  has  suffered  very  much,  it  is  true,  but 
other  nations  have  suffered  more  than  the  Jews. 
Where  is  Babylon  and  Rome  ?  Where  is  Egypt  and 
Persia?  Where  is  Spain  in  her  glory  and  the  great 
nation  of  Russia?  Where  are  the  Bible  tribes  or 
nations?  But  the  Jew  is  still  here,  and  is  a  living 
evidence  for  Christ  and  His  promise. 

The  hope  of  Israel  is  the  Messiah,  and  Israel 
is  waiting  for  Him  today  more  than  ever  before.  The 
Jew  is  waiting  for  Palestine  and  he  will  get  it,  and 
by  entering  into  Jerusalem  will  the  Jewish  nation 
realize  that  someone  else  is  to  come.  Will  the  Jew 
receive  Him  this  time  ?  Will  the  Jews  all  know  Him, 
the  one  they  have  rejected,  when  He  stands  before 
them  again?  Yes,  they  will,  because  all  Israel  shall 
be  saved,  it  is  written,  and  God  will  forgive. 


The  Jewish  Missionary  Work 
Among  the  Jews 

It  seems  to  be  so  easy  for  any  Jew  to  become  a 
Christian  or  to  follow  the  law  of  freedom  into 
Christ.  It  looks  like  the  Jews  are  missing  all  the 
good  there  is  prepared  for  them.  But  to  know 
Christianity  the  people  have  to  study  Judaism  first. 
The  Russian  Jew  knows  only  one  Christianity,  and 
this  is  Greek  Catholicism,  or,  better  said,  "Kill  the 
Jew!" 

I  remember  eight  years  before  my  conversion  a 
Jewish  missionary  came  into  my  house  with  a  New 
Testament  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  handed  it 
to  me  saying,  "Read  this  and  it  will  tell  you  all 
about  your  rejected  Messiah."  I  kicked  him  out  of 
my  room  and  insulted  him  and  pushed  him  down- 
stairs. I  could  never  forget  his  smile  after  getting 
up  from  the  floor  at  the  foot  of  the  stairs.  I  could 
never  forget  his  gentle  manner  after  the  insult  I  had 
given  him,  and  he  said,  "God  of  Israel,  forgive 
him,"  and  repeated  this  twice  and  walked  away 
with  a  prayer  for  me.  I  could  not  rest  peacefully 
after  this  for  weeks.  How  humble  and  true  this 
man  acted  for  his  principle  and  belief  in  Christ,  like 
an  obedient  servant  to  his  Master.  He  bowed  his 
head  to  me  and  said,  "Some  day  you  will,  some 
day  you  will."  I  haven't  seen  him  since,  and  maybe 
he  gave  his  life  for  Christ,  as  a  martyr. 

The  Jewish  missionary  has  a  lot  to  go  through.    A 
Jewish  missionary  is  in  danger  every  day  in  the 
58 


JUDAISM  59 

week.  He  has  to  go  through  all  the  insults,  perse- 
cutions and  condemnation.  He  speaks  to  a  Jew 
with  respect  and  honor,  and  must  know  to  answer  all 
the  questions  presented  to  him.  He  must  be  a 
learned  Jew  or  a  Hebrew,  and  well  versed  in  the  Old 
Testament.  Jesus  must  be  shown  to  the  Jew  from 
the  Old  Testament  because  the  Jews  do  not  believe 
in  the  New  Testament.  And  there  are  a  lot  of  ques- 
tions to  ask.  If  the  missionary  can  satisfy  the 
Hebrew  with  his  answers,  the  Jew  will  respect  him 
and  talk  to  him,  and,  if  not,  he  will  call  him  a 
hypocrite,  liar,  and  will  even  spit  in  his  face.  Pro- 
testantism is  very  little  known  by  the  Jew,  and,  even 
in  America,  he  believes  that  all  the  Christians  are 
Jewish  enemies. 

And  what  makes  the  Jew  become  a  missionary? 
Has  he  got  a  purpose  in  it?  Is  there  any  money  in 
it  ?  No !  brother.  No  Jew  or  Hebrew  will  sell  him- 
self or  his  God  for  money.  The  Hebrew  missionary 
can  get  a  good  salary  in  any  Jewish  community  as  a 
teacher  or  adviser  and  will  be  more  honored  by  the 
Jews  than  by  Christians. 

I  know  two  Hebrew  missionaries  in  America,  go- 
ing along  from  town  to  town  giving  out  New  Testa- 
ments to  the  Jewish  homes,  and  they  are  starving; 
but  you  will  never  see  them  discouraged  or  in 
trouble.  I  have  met  one  of  these  men  in  Billings, 
Montana,  and  he  was  so  glad  to  meet  me  that  he 
cried  for  joy  and  kissed  me.  I  asked  him,  "How  are 
you  getting  along  ? ' '  He  said,  ' ;  Well !  Christ  liveth 
in  me."  I  said,  "Can  I  be  of  any  help  to  you, 
brother?"  because  I  have  seen  he  needs  something. 
He  said,  ' '  I  will  only  ask  one  thing  of  you ;  give  me 
a  meal."  "A  meal/'  I  said,  "have  you  no  money 


60  JUDAISM 

to  live  on,  even  for  a  meal?"  And  he  said,  "But  I 
live.  What  is  the  difference?  I  live.  The  glory  of 
Israel  will  give  us  the  reward."  I  said,  "How  long 
will  you  be  here?"  He  answered,  "One  week."  I 
took  him  in  the  hotel  and  paid  for  a  room  and  left 
him  five  dollars.  Then  I  left.  And  I  said  to  myself, 
"What  is  he  a  missionary  for?" 

Oh,  Christians !  Is  it  not  Christ,  the  one  who  sent 
Paul  to  become  a  missionary  to  the  Gentiles  ?  As  in 
the  beginning,  so  is  He  today.  There  is  no  differ- 
ence in  time.  Whenever  God  is  calling,  the  soul 
must  answer  and  obey.  Fifteen  hundred  Jewish 
missionaries  are  missing  in  1900  years.  Fifteen  hun- 
dred Jews  have  answered  the  call  and  nobody  knows 
what  became  of  them!  "Go  and  preach  My  gospel 
to  all  creatures,"  said  He,  "and  carry  the  cross  for 
My  sake." 

I  have  noticed  many  times  the  reception  a  Jewish 
missionary  receives  in  a  Christian  town.  The  sus- 
picion is  still  in  many  hearts  of  the  Christian  people 
that  the  Jew  is  out  for  a  purpose.  And  the  Jewish 
missionary  work  has  been  much  overlooked  by  our 
Christian  nations.  Missionaries  have  been  sent  to  all 
nations  in  every  part  of  the  globe.  Millions  of  dol- 
lars are  spent  every  year  for  this  great  institution 
to  make  the  nations  acknowledge  Christ.  But  did 
the  Chritsians  send  any  to  the  Jews?  No!  Jesus 
Himself  sent  the  Hebrew  to  the  Hebrew.  Christ  is 
calling  men  from  the  Jewish  nation  to  do  the  mis- 
sionary work,  and  he  (the  Jew)  has  to  go. 

I  am  a  missionary  and  a  Jew.  I  am  going  through 
all  the  experience  with  the  others.  I  know,  I  feel, 
I  hear.  The  voice  is  calling.  I  could  not  say  no. 
I  don't  want  to  say  no.  Because  it  is  my  pleasure 


JUDAISM  61 

to  please  my  God  and  Saviour,  and  my  Father  is 
doing  all  the  rest. 

How  does  a  Jew  preach  the  gospel  to  a  Jew  ?  And 
how  does  the  Jewish  missionary  enter  into  a  Jewish 
home? 

First,  he  must  become  acquainted  with  the  family 
or  man.  The  missionary  must  find  out  the  need  of 
the  Jew,  and  try  to  provide  for  him  the  necessities 
for  his  household.  For  instance,  a  pair  of  shoes  for 
the  baby,  sacks  of  coal  for  the  kitchen,  a  second- 
hand suit  for  the  husband,  and  sometimes  a  basket 
of  food,  when  in  need.  The  Jewish  missionary 
doesn't  go  to  the  rich  people.  The  poor  are  the  only 
ones  he  can  reach,  and  one  poor  man  recommends 
the  other  poor  man  to  the  missionary,  and  the  other 
poor  man  will  try  to  find  me  because  he  is  in  need, 
and  will  call  me  in  his  houes  to  become  friends. 
After  many  weeks  of  friendship,  I  will  bring  him  in 
a  pamphlet  to  read,  or  a  missionary  newspaper,  or 
any  other  Christian  book,  and  ask  him  to  read,  and 
after  I  will  give  him  a  New  Testament  to  read,  and 
many  weeks  after  I  will  invite  him  to  hear  a  good 
sermon  on  Sunday  in  the  church  and  will  introduce 
him  to  the  pastor  on  Sunday  noon.  The  pastor  is 
kind  to  him  and  will  ask  him  to  come  again,  and  the 
wife  and  the  children  will  ask  father  to  go  again  in 
this  fine  and  friendly  church.  Well,  step  by  step 
the  Jew  will  become  a  Christian  and  a  member  of 
the  church. 

This  is  the  way  the  Jewish  missionary  is  work- 
ing for  Christ's  sake,  and  the  work  is  still  going 
on.  The  Jewish  missionaries  have  converted  in  1900 
years  one  million  Jews  all  over  the  world  to  every 
sect  and  denomination  in  the  Christian  religion.  The 


62  JUDAISM 

missionary  converts  the  Jew  to  Christ,  and  the  Jew 
may  belong  afterward  to  any  denomination  he 
chooses,  as  long  as  he  believes  that  Christ  was  the 
Messiah.  The  missionary  must  get  a  Jew  who  is  well 
learned  in  the  Hebrew  or  five  books  of  Moses  and 
the  prophets,  for  an  ignorant  Jew  is  very  hard  to 
converse  with  and  make  him  reason.  The  American 
Jews  are  the  hardest  people  to  talk  to,  because  they 
do  not  believe  in  anything  but  a  good  time  for  them- 
selves, and  don't  care  about  Judaism  or  Christian- 
ity. He  is  more  Ingersol  than  anything  else. 
"My  Conversion  and  Persecution" 

To  my  friends  and  brothers  in  the  Christian  faith 
I  am  writing  my  conversion  as  a  testimony  for 
Christ.  I  am  speaking  in  His  Name,  and  His  Name 
is  very  dear  and  holy  to  me.  I  am  sending  these 
words  out  to  the  world  as  I  am  sent  by  Him  to  the 
world,  as  a  Jewish  missionary  and  a  Hebrew  Rabbi 
from  the  Orthodox  faith.  I  am  not  exaggerating  in 
any  of  my  statements. 

In  the  year  1913,  on  the  16th  day  of  December,  I 
was  sitting  in  my  study  preparing  a  lesson  for  the 
congregation  which  I  was  to  give  on  the  morrow  at 
9  :00  o  'clock  in  the  morning.  It  was  12 :00  midnight. 
Every  one  of  my  household  was  asleep.  Everything 
was  in  quietness  when  I  heard  a  voice  speaking  to 
me.  I  could  not  understand  what  it  said,  but  it  was 
speaking  continuously.  I  thought  someone  might  be 
in  the  front  room.  I  went  to  see  with  a  lamp  in  my 
hand,  but  could  not  see  anybody.  I  came  back  to 
my  desk  and  saw  before  me  letters  in  Hebrew:  "Je- 
sus of  Nazareth,"  and  I  could  see  it  in  every  corner 
and  place  in  the  room.  I  began  to  rub  my  eyes,  and 
thought  it  might  be  from  sitting  up  too  long  and 


JUDAISM  63 

much,  hard  work.  But  it  would  not  leave  me.  It 
kept  on  for  five  minutes  or  more  until  it  left  me. 
After  one  hour  I  went  to  bed,  and  even  in  my  sleep  I 
could  see  the  same  words.  I  had  a  very  restless 
night  and  got  up  later  than  ever  before.  It  was  half 
past  seven.  I  went  to  the  Synagogue  and  the  people 
were  waiting  for  me  to  begin  the  morning  prayer.  I 
was  praying,  but  my  heart  was  beating  fast  all  the 
time.  I  could  not  get  control  over  my  restlessness. 
I  felt  that  something  would  happen,  but  didn't  know 
what.  I  began  to  think  my  nation  would  be  in 
trouble  or  that  something  else  would  come  upon  the 
town.  It  pressed  me  so  hard  that  tears  came  into 
my  eyes. 

After  my  prayer  the  congregation  waited  for  me 
to  go  in  the  pulpit  for  my  lecture,  and  there  were 
many  strangers  in  the  prayer  house,  strangers  from 
other  towns,  and  all  gathered  around  the  pulpit 
closer  to  hear.  I  came  up  and  gave  a  blessing  as 
usual  and  tried  to  begin,  but  no  words  came  from 
me.  For  a  moment  I  was  in  silence,  when  I  said,  "I 
have  seen  in  writing  last  night  that  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth is  our  promised  Messiah. "  I  did  not  finish  all 
I  wanted  to  say  when  one  of  my  congregation 
jumped  up  and  slapped  me  in  the  face,  and  the  rest 
of  them  followed.  I  had  been  a  Rabbi  for  eighteen 
years  under  several  congregations  and  in  several 
towns  and  countries.  This  was  my  longest  term  in 
which  I  had  ever  served  in  a  town. 

They  pulled  me  off  the  pulpit  and  cursed  and 
swore  and  beat  me,  and  even  pulled  me  through  the 
street  to  my  home. 

My  wife  was  just  ready  to  make  my  breakfast 
when  I  was  pulled  into  my  home  and  the  people  said 


64  JUDAISM 

to  my  wife:  " There  is  your  husband,  our  hypocriti- 
cal Rabbi.  He  has  become  a  Christian. "  And  all 
the  bystanders  hissed  me,  and  some  spat  in  my  face. 
"  Throw  him  out  in  the  street, "  cried  the  crowd.  My 
wife  was  fainting  and  the  women  trying  to  bring 
her  to  herself.  My  children  were  crying.  They  did 
not  understand  what  was  going  on  in  the  house. 

They  pulled  me  out  in  the  street  and  said:  "Go 
to  hell,  and  don't  you  come  here  again.  We  will 
kill  you." 

I  walked  out  of  town,  but  could  not  go  far  be- 
cause it  was  freezing  and  I  had  not  many  clothes  on 
me  and  it  was  a  long  way  to  a  town.  I  was  hungry 
and  went  into  a  Christian  home  (where  I  had  never 
been  in  my  life  before),  and  the  woman  gave  me 
some  bread  and  milk.  The  woman  did  not  know 
what  had  happened  in  town  (the  woman  knew  who 
I  was).  I  was  in  her  home  until  dark  and  went  into 
town  to  go  home.  When  I  came  to  my  house,  every- 
thing was  dark  around.  I  knocked  on  the  door.  My 
wife  came  out  and  saw  me  and  cried  out:  "Go 
away!  Go  away!  I  don't  know  you  and  I  don't 
want  to  know  you!"  and  closed  the  door  before  me. 
I  stood  there  for  a  moment,  when  the  door  opened 
again  and  my  son  Reuben,  a  boy  of  18  years  of  age, 
strong  and  healthy,  came  out  and  hit  me  a  hard 
blow  in  the  face,  and  said,  "Go  away,  you  dog.  I 
have  no  father.  He  is  dead. ' ' 

I  went  out  to  the  fuel  house  in  the  back  yard  and 
stayed  through  the  night.  I  found  some  sacks  to 
cover  myself  up,  but  I  could  not  sleep  one  moment. 
I  knew  what  was  to  come  for  me  in  the  future,  but  I 
could  not  forget  the  night  before  when  I  had  seen 
the  words:  "Jesus  of  Nazareth."  I  kept  thinking 


JUDAISM  65 

over  and  over  again  through  the  night,  and  I  could 
not  come  to  a  conclusion.  My  heart  was  heavy  within 
me  and  troubled,  and  it  was  so  cold  the  heavy  frost 
was  cutting  my  flesh  like  needles. 

It  is  hard,  brothers,  very  hard  to  live  the  life  of  a 
Jew  and  be  persecuted  by  the  so-called  Christians. 
But  how  much  harder  it  is  for  a  Jew  to  become  a 
Christian  and  be  condemned  by  the  people  who  have 
loved  and  honored  him.  It  is  all  right  when  every- 
thing is  over  and  forgotten.  All  is  well  when  the 
suffering  is  over.  But  the  wound  is  still  there;  a 
memory,  a  glimpse,  a  long  look  in  the  past,  and  it 
reminds  you  of  your  home,  your  wife,  your  children, 
where  they  are  and  what  they  are  doing. 

Then  comes  the  Christ  spirit  and  reminds  you  of  a 
duty,  and  all  is  forgotten;  the  honor,  the  home,  the 
wife,  the  children,  and  you  become  a  little  child,  and 
all  troubles  are  blotted  out. 

Now,  perhaps,  you  will  ask,  "Did  I  become  a 
Christian  that  night,  or  did  the  Jews  accuse  me  of 
being  a  Christian  that  night?"  I  did  not  know  even 
the  meaning  of  Christianity.  I  did  not  say  one  word 
about  Christianity.  I  only  said  that  I  had  seen  the 
words,  "Jesus  of  Nazareth."  The  truth  was  I  wanted 
to  say  that  He  must  be  the  Messiah  of  the  Jews. 
But  they  gave  me  no  chance  to  finish  my  words,  and 
threw  me  right  out.  They  accused  me  of  believing 
in  the  Christ  all  the  time,  even  in  my  Rabbinical 
position  and  working  under  the  mask  of  Judaism. 

The  morning  after  I  was  brought  before  the  Rabbi 
Zion.  (In  one  town  there  may  be  two  or  three 
Eabbis  under  different  names.)  In  the  presence  of 
ten  prominent  Hebrews  from  the  city,  I  was  asked 


66  JUDAISM 

by  the  Rabbi  the  meaning  of  my  expression  yes- 
terday regarding  Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

I  answered  and  said:  "I  think  we  are  rejecting 
the  Messiah  who  lived  1900  years  ago,  because  I 
have  heard  a  voice  speaking  to  me  and  I  have  seen 
His  name  in  my  presence  and  believe  that  He  is  the 
Messiah." 

The  people  in  the  room  began  to  get  restless,  and 
the  Eabbi  has  seen  that  much  harm  would  be  done 
to  me,  and  said,  "I  would  not  like  to  judge  you, 
because  we  live  under  other  nations.  But  I  curse 
you  out  from  the  nation  of  Israel  and  thou  art  no 
more  among  the  living  in  our  community. "  And 
several  spat  in  my  face  and  pushed  me  out  of  the 
room. 

It  was  noon-day  when  I  came  out.  There  stood 
before  me  many  men  and  women  and  children,  and 
they  all  hissed  me  and  pulled  at  me  and  pushed  me, 
and  began  to  throw  stones  at  me,  and  I  ran,  and  the 
children  ran  after  me,  and  everybody  laughed  at  me, 
and  I  ran  without  thinking  where  I  was  going.  I  ran 
as  if  a  fire  were  following  me.  My  son  ran  after 
me.  When  I  looked  around  and  saw  him  running 
after  me  I  ran  faster,  because  I  knew  what  I  had 
to  expect,  if  he  caught  me.  And  he  did  catch  me 
at  last  and  threw  me  down  on  the  ground  and 
kicked  me  in  the  face  and  body.  There  was  no  one 
present  when  he  did  this  but  myself.  He  then  ran 
back,  and  I  crawled  away  on  a  side  road  and  lay 
there  until  dark,  in  great  pain. 

It  was  about  11 :00  o'clock  at  night  when  a  peasant 
passed  by  with  his  horse  and  buggy  and  saw  me  and 
came  to  my  assistance  and  gave  me  a  drop  of  brandy 
from  his  flask  and  took  me  home  for  the  night.  I 


JUDAISM  67 

was  in  his  house  all  day  long  until  I  got  well,  and 
he  gave  me  a  sheepskin  coat  to  keep  me  warm  and  an 
old  pair  of  boots,  and  said  to  me,  "You  can  go  back 
to  town  now  because  they  won't  take  any  notice  of 
you  any  more.  I  could  not  keep  you  here,  the  Jews 
would  break  up  my  house,  if  they  knew  it." 

I  went  back  into  town  and  walked  around  all 
night  and  passed  by  my  house  many  times.  I  saw 
my  family  sitting  by  a  large  fire,  and  saw  my  baby 
girl  in  my  wife's  lap  going  to  sleep. 

Sorrow  in  the  heart  is  more  painful  than  sickness. 
Sorrow  is  a  destruction  to  the  body,  and  the  body  be- 
gins to  suffer  till  death  comes.  I  have  been  through 
all  the  hell  there  is.  I  have  been  through  all  the 
trouble  and  all  the  suffering  the  world  has  ever 
made  for  people.  In  the  year  1888,  the  Russian 
government  sent  me  for  two  years  to  Siberia,  and  I 
suffered  there  all  the  punishment  that  Eussia  has 
invented  for  innocent  people. 

I  came  through,  in  1903,  the  Kishenof  Pogrom 
(the  massacre  of  the  Jews),  when  25,000  Jews  were 
killed  in  one  week,  under  the  Romanoff  rule.  I 
came  through  more  suffering  than  any  man  living, 
but  the  greatest  suffering  is  that  of  a  father  when 
he  loves  his  child  who  is  stretching  out  her  little 
arms  for  her  father  to  take  her.  I  lost  control  over 
myself,  when  I  saw  my  baby  that  night  on  my  wife 's 
lap,  and  I  knew  she  was  asking  for  me,  where  I 
was,  and  why  I  didn't  come.  Tears  streamed  down 
my  cheeks  and  I  could  not  stop  them ;  they  ran  and 
ran,  and  I  thought  they  would  never  stop.  I  broke 
down. 

I  passed  through  street  after  street,  and  many 
times  when  I  felt  cold,  I  ran  to  keep  myself  warm. 


68  JUDAISM 

No  home,  nothing  to  eat,  and  no  friends.  I  was  left 
alone,  all  alone.  Every  day  I  was  hiding  in  warm 
places — a  saloon  or  a  Russian  coffee  kitchen. 
Through  the  night  I  would  go  out  around  behind  the 
houses  to  pick  out  food  from  the  garbage  cans  to 
keep  me  alive. 

So  it  went  on  for  several  weeks.  One  day  I  stood 
on  the  corner  and  saw  a  funeral  passing  by  and  my 
wife  and  family  and  brothers  and  sisters  behind  the 
coffin  which  was  made  for  me.  It  was  my  funeral. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  coffin  but  my  clothes,  and 
these  must  be  buried.  It  is  the  law  that,  if  a  Jew 
becomes  a  Christian,  he  is  counted  for  dead,  and  the 
family  is  mourning  for  seven  days,  just  as  if  he  had 
really  died,  sitting  on  the  floor  or  on  a  footstool,  in 
stockings  (as  I  have  described  in  the  Jewish 
funeral).  All  is  gone,  everything  is  forgotten,  and  it 
could  not  be  brought  back  again.  (In  tradition  we 
are  dead  and  in  Christ  we  live.) 

On  the  20th  of  February  my  son  met  me  in  the 
street  at  9 :00  o  'clock  in  the  evening  and  said  to 
me,  "Dog!  Are  you  still  alive?  I  thought  you 
were  dead."  And  he  hit  me  in  the  mouth  with 
something  hard — a  stone  or  a  piece  of  iron,  and 
knocked  my  four  teeth  out  of  me,  and  walked  away, 
and  I  was  bleeding  for  hours. 

People  may  think  it  is  not  possible  for  a  son  to 
do  this  to  a  father,  but,  to  show  you  that  the  law  is 
stronger,  greater  and  holier  than  love  from  a  son  to 
his  father:  Rrual  Costa,  the  great  Hebrew  philos- 
opher in  Holland,  met  his  death  from  his  son  when 
he  became  a  Christian.  Menase,  the  great  Hebrew 
of  Spain  and  Spanish  minister  of  finance,  met  his 
death  from  his  brother  after  becoming  converted  to 


JUDAISM  69 

Christ,  on  the  15th  of  December  in  the  year  1562. 
Bar  Batelia  of  Israel,  a  Hebrew  and  Talmudist  in 
Portugal,  in  the  year  1640  was  found  stoned  to  death 
by  his  Jewish  congregation  after  becoming  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  Catholic  faith.  Abraham  Spinoza,  Boroch 
Spinoza's  brother,  has  been  tortured  by  the  Jewish 
community  to  death  after  accepting  Christ  as  his 
Saviour,  and  was  found  on  a  dust  barrel  in  the  back 
yard  of  his  home.  And  many  more,  which  I  can 
show  from  history,  since  the  beginning  of  Christ. 
A  Hebrew  will  forgive  his  son  when  a  thief  or  a 
murderer,  but  he  will  never  forgive  him  when  he 
accepts  Christ  as  his  Saviour. 

The  Jew  is  not  to  be  condemned  for  being  so  bit- 
terly against  the  Christian  Jew.  Judaism  suffered 
more  under  Christianity  than  were  the  Jews  perse- 
cuted by  receiving  Christ.  For  this  reason  alone 
some  Jews  will  not  receive  Christ,  because  of  being 
persecuted  by  their  family  and  friends. 

In  the  beginning  of  March,  four  Jews  took  me  out 
from  my  sleeping  place  in  a  horse's  stable  and  told 
me  they  would  send  me  from  town,  and  gave  me 
money.  I  went  with  them  and,  passing  a  frozen 
river,  they  had  a  hole  in  the  ice  already  prepared 
and  put  me  right  under  it  down  to  my  neck  and  held 
me  there  for  twenty  minutes,  saying:  "We  will 
baptize  you  in  the  name  of  your  Jesus."  They  ran 
away  and  left  me  there  with  my  head  and  arms  on 
the  ice.  It  took  me  some  time  to  crawl  out,  and  I 
was  soaking  wet  and  cold  and  shivering,  and  had 
no  place  to  even  dry  my  clothes.  This  would  look 
to  be  certain  death.  But  the  struggle  for  existence 
and  hope  of  future  happiness  has  kept  many  a  person 
from  death.  I  was  very  glad  when  I  came  out  from 


70  JUDAISM 

the  frozen  water.  I  kept  on  running  and  began  to 
feel  warm.  My  clothes  dried  out  after  many  days 
from  the  heat  of  my  body. 

There  was  on  old  man,  a  peasant.  He  had  a  coffee 
shop  open  all  night.  Many  times  he  gave  me  a  cup 
of  coffee  through  the  night  and  a  piece  of  black 
bread.  He  told  me  one  night  he  must  not  give  me 
any  more  because  the  Jews  said  that  they  would 
turn  his  store  over.  I  was  sick  and  half  starved 
and  had  nowhere  to  lie  down. 

But  God  sent  relief  to  me  one  night.  A  big,  strong, 
six-foot  man  came  up  to  me  when  I  was  walking 
through  the  streets  and  said:  "You  are  the  man  I 
want.  You  are  the  one  I  am  looking  for.  Come  with 
me.  I  will  give  you  a  home."  I  went  with  him  and 
he  took  me  to  a  large  building.  And  I  said  to  him, 
"You  don't  mean  to  take  me  in  here?  This  is  an 
asylum  for  the  insane."  He  said:  "Yes,  it  is,  and 
you  belong  here."  I  struggled,  and  he  hit  me  and 
carried  me  in,  and  I  was  there  for  a  month  and  had 
a  place  to  sleep  and  to  eat ;  but  the  doctor  saw  that 
there  was  nothing  the  matter  with  me  and  let  me 
go.  And  my  trouble  then  began  anew. 

In  April  I  was  knocked  down  by  four  Jews  in  the 
street  at  12:00  o'clock  at  night,  and  they  broke  two 
of  my  ribs.  I  lay  unconscious  for  five  hours.  When 
morning  came,  the  police  picked  me  up  and  took  me 
to  a  hospital,  and  I  was  there  eight  weeks  and  came 
out  well,  but  with  a  little  pain  in  my  side. 

This  is  not  all.  I  am  giving  my  persecution  and 
conversion  in  brief.  My  trouble  was  greater  even 
than  this.  My  two  little  girls,  seven  and  five  years 
old,  saw  me  one  day,  and  then  ran  to  me,  but  my 
brother,  sister,  and  her  husband  pulled  my  baby 


JUDAISM  71 

away  from  me  when  she  was  holding  her  arms 
around  my  neck  and  crying  for  me  to  come  home, 
and  my  own  brother,  one  year  younger  than  I, 
kicked  me  in  the  leg  and  spat  in  my  face.  This 
brother  I  had  given  1,000  rubles  on  his  marriage  day 
to  go  into  business.  My  sister,  the  only  one  I  had, 
I  had  given  1,000  rubles  and  many  dresses  on  her 
marriage  day,  as  well  as  paid  for  the  wedding  ex- 
penses. And  now  she  didn't  know  me  any  more. 

But  all  who  tried  to  kill  me  failed,  and  I  came  out 
the  victor  because  "His  will  be  done;"  and  it  must 
be  done.  It  was  not  myself  who  did  it.  It  was 
Christ,  and  He  took  me  out  from  every  trouble. 

After  coming  out  from  the  hospital,  they  told  me 
my  wife  had  married  a  widower.  I  knew  that  man. 
And  they  told  me  I  must  try  to  get  out  of  town, 
because  my  wife's  husband  said  he  would  murder 
me. 

I  went  to  the  Chief  of  Police  and  told  him  my 
whole  story.  I  cried  to  him  and  begged  him  to  help 
me — to  take  me  away  from  here.  He  knew  me  and 
knew  that  the  Jews  would  kill  me,  and  said,  "I 
will  send  you  away  from  here,  Rabbi."  I  kissed 
his  hands.  This  was  the  first  time  in  my  life  to  kiss 
a  Gentile,  but  I  was  over-glad  and  over- joyed.  And 
he  said  not  to  mention  it  to  anyone. 

He  bought  me  a  ticket  to  London,  England,  and 
gave  me  five  rubles  in  my  pocket,  and  I  went  to 
London.  When  I  came  there  I  could  not  speak 
English,  even  one  word.  But  a  Jew  in  London  gave 
me  a  job  on  a  ship  which  had  to  sail  to  Canada,  and 
I  took  that  job  and  they  put  me  down  in  the  engine 
room  to  shovel  coal  in  the  engine,  four  hours  on  and 


72  JUDAISM 

four  hours  off.  I  worked  on  the  ship  for  ten  days, 
until  it  arrived  in  Montreal,  and  I  left  the  ship  with- 
out getting  my  pay  because  they  expected  me  to  go 
back  to  London  with  the  same  steamer. 

I  came  out  to  Vancouver,  B.  C.,  and  traveled  to 
Seattle,  Washington,  and  worked  and  studied  Eng- 
lish, and  took  up  missionary  work  amongst  the  Jews, 
and  also  in  Portland,  Tacoma  and  Spokane.  The 
Lord  has  been  with  me  since,  and  I  am  a  missionary 
for  Christ. 


THE  END. 


14  DAY  USE 

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